


once the show gets started, it's bound to be a sight to see

by jellyfishes



Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 01:36:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellyfishes/pseuds/jellyfishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which harry flirts a lot liam is a bit of a grumpy idiot</p>
            </blockquote>





	once the show gets started, it's bound to be a sight to see

**Author's Note:**

> uh, this got long and away from me! title is from Pyro by Kings of Leon

Liam’s arm is starting to ache from holding Louis up by the time the bus pulls up around the corner and he only just manages to disentangle his limbs from Louis’ for long enough to hail it down. Louis had somehow been convinced that it would be a good idea for Liam to nab an extra ticket for him to the music festival that his job had sent him to and had spent the entire afternoon getting pissed off the overpriced beer. And considering that Louis is the only one of the two of them that knows how to drive, Liam is now hauling him onto a bus because he’s pretty sure he’s not quite ready to die, thank you very much.

 

The bus driver eyes the two of them dubiously as Liam digs around in his pocket to find some change and Louis grins at him. “Don’t worry,” he says. “I never blow chunks when I’m pissed, so you don’t have to worry about me getting regurgitated beer all over your seats.”

 

“I am _so_ sorry,” Liam says and tries to grab onto Louis while the driver sorts out the tickets, but he’s a second too late and Louis is already making his way down the bus. He’s checking under all the seats as he goes and Liam’s not quite sure what for, but he’s past the point of bothering to care what is going through Louis’ head most of the time.

 

“Liam, I found someone!” Louis calls out and Liam rolls his eyes and follows Louis down the aisle of the bus to the very back where Louis has seated himself right in front of the only other person who’s on the bus and he can’t help but wonder how stupid someone would have to be to catch a bus at midnight out of _choice_ because it’s not exactly safe. “I’m Louis and this is Liam,” he says brightly, addressing the boy sitting behind him and Liam groans, sitting down next to Louis and trying to grab hold oh his flailing arms so that he doesn’t knock someone’s eye out.

 

The boy sitting behind them looks at Liam with a raised eyebrow and lets out a chuckle. Louis is now sitting cross legged on his seat, facing the opposite way so that he can look at both of them at the same time. His knee is digging into Liam’s thigh, but at least he isn’t bouncing out of his seat anymore. “Harry,” says the boy and Liam takes a moment to actually look at him. He’s not as young as Liam thought at first and he’s got a head of these ridiculous curls that somehow suit him even though they look like they belong on a sixty year old woman who’s trying to hold onto her youth. He’s pretty and Liam attempts not to stare.

 

“Is that short for Harold?” Louis asks and Harry grins.

 

“Nope,” he says. “You can call me Harold if you want though.” Liam frowns because Harry is actually doing a better job at managing Louis when he’s drunk than Liam has ever been able to do.

 

Louis positively _beams_ at Harry and nudges Liam’s side with his elbow. “Liam,” he whispers (but he doesn’t really do a very good job of whispering because there is no doubt in Liam’s mind that Harry can hear every word he’s saying). “This guy is _so_ nice! We should probably be friends with him, don’t you think?”

 

Liam laughs a bit and nods, smiling at Harry apologetically, but he just shrugs and goes to plug his iPod in. Liam is pretty grateful for that because it’s a polite way of telling them that he was actually keen on spending a nice peaceful bus ride to himself before Louis interrupted and Liam tries to tug Louis to turn back around, but he’s reaching over the back of the seat and grabbing one of Harry’s headphones. “Can I listen too?” he asks, looking at Harry hopefully. “Liam’s gonna be bored and _judgy_ because I’m drunk.”

 

“I’m not going to be judgy!” Liam yelps, smacking Louis in the arm. “I’m never judgy.” 

 

Louis looks at him and raises his eyebrows. “Oh, really?” he asks and Harry laughs and hands Louis one of the ear buds. “What’re we listening to?” Louis asks.

 

“Black Keys,” Harry says with a shrug and Louis groans dramatically, wrenching the ear bud from his ear with a flourish and flinging it at Harry. Harry looks a little shocked and Liam sighs.

 

“Don’t worry about him,” Liam says. “He refuses to believe in good music.”

 

“You play it _all the time_ ,” Louis says, pouting at Liam. “And it’s all depressing and whiney and it makes me feel gloomy when I want to be having fun!”

 

Liam rolls his eyes. “Speaking of whiney,” he says lowly at the same time as Harry says “It’s not whiney, it’s great!” Liam grins at him and Harry slaps on this goofy smile that looks so ridiculous that it’s almost cute.

 

“Ugh, don’t get Liam talking about music. He’ll get a boner and it’ll be uncomfortable for all of us,” Louis says. Liam thinks that maybe if he projects his glare towards Louis hard enough, he’ll be able to feel it and he might shut up some time in the near future. But Louis is oblivious to Liam’s embarrassment at the best of times and when he’s pissed, it’s infinitely worse.

 

Harry laughs and smiles at Liam again. “I get it mate. I love music,” he says. Liam vaguely thinks that Harry doesn’t know _loving_ music until he’s stayed up every night for the past three years listening to records and choosing the perfect songs to play on the radio the following afternoon when he finally drags himself out of bed, but hey, it’s nice that he’s at least enthusiastic about it. “I mean, I want to be an artist some day.” He winces. “Just waiting for that lucky break I guess.”

 

Liam doesn’t even have time to reply before Louis jumps in. “Liam here produces music sometimes!” he says and Liam is starting to think he might strangle Louis when Harry gets off the bus, because seriously, he doesn’t need some young hopeful following him around and trying to convince him to take them on.

 

“You do?” Harry asks, but he doesn’t look like he’s plotting to annoy the crap out of Liam any time soon. He just looks interested. “That must be amazing.”

 

“Yeah, it’s bloody fanta – ” he starts to say, but Louis cuts him off.

 

“Liam has this _thing_ about giving his number out to strangers,” Louis says. “But I don’t! So you can have mine. I’m basically his personal assistant so if you text me about it, I can set the two of you up. With a meeting I mean, not a date.” And yeah, Liam is starting to consider not even waiting for Harry to get off the bus before he starts strangling Louis.

 

Harry looks at Liam and he’s blushing and Liam feels a little bit bad because he doesn’t actually _like_ crushing people’s dreams. “You don’t have to do that,” Harry says and Liam bites his lip.

 

“Nonsense!” Louis chimes in. “It’s not a big deal. Here, give me your phone, I’ll chuck my number in.”

 

Harry mimes a _sorry_ to Liam as he begrudgingly hands over his phone and Liam hopes it’s the kind of sorry that means that he’s not actually going to follow through with it and they can all just forget that this whole exchange ever happened. It’s pretty likely that Louis won’t remember it in the morning when he’s too focussed on how much his head hurts to worry about meeting some kid on a bus who thought for a second that he might be catching a break. Liam feels like he always does when he has to let someone down – terrible. It’s why he likes the radio presenter part of his job better and tries to avoid the producing aspect. But it is what it is.

 

Louis hands back Harry’s phone at the same time as the bus turns onto their street and Liam stands up, offering a hand to help Louis up to. Louis instantly latches himself onto Liam’s side like a limpet and Harry smiles weakly at the two of them. “Seeya round Harold!” Louis calls as he hops off the bus and Harry waves at them while Liam tries to stop Louis from groping his arse.

 

\---

 

Liam has just finished with his shift at the station when his phone buzzes in his jeans. It’s five in the afternoon and he’s just been sitting at a control desk for four hours while he flicks on song after song, interspersed with a bit of commentary about each track in between. It’s not that he doesn’t like it, working at the station. In fact, he loves being able to play whatever music he wants and hold onto the firm belief that he might actually introduce someone out there to something they’ve never heard before. Louis always jokes around that he’s an everyday superhero. “Changing the musical taste of London, one victim at a time,” he says and Liam pretends to hate it, but he likes the idea a bit more than he’d ever admit.

 

The text is from Louis and Liam sighs.

 

_come help me close up at the shop pleassseeeeee li_

 

It’s not unusual for Louis to have to stay late at the coffee shop where he works everyday. His boss is kind of a jerk and he’s pretty consistent with getting Louis to hang around after work and close up shop for him instead of doing it himself. Usually Lou has his mate from work to help him out and he meets Liam at home, but sometimes Zayn has other things to do and Louis is left pleading for Liam to come and help.

 

When he gets there, all the lights are off and he pushes the door open. The bell chimes above the door and Louis pokes his head out from around the back, his face breaking out into a grin when he sees Liam. It honestly drives Liam mental how happy Louis seems to be whenever he sees him. It makes up for all the times that Liam has wondered why he even hangs out with Louis when he does something stupid and ends up getting them kicked out of somewhere or stuck up a tree or lost down by a creek or something equally as worrying.

 

“You came!” Louis calls out and he sounds so genuinely pleased that Liam feels a rush of affection for his best friend. “I’m glad you did because there’s mopping to be done and you know I hate it because I always do it wrong, so maybe you could?” he asks with a hopeful smile that he knows Liam can’t refuse and it’s stupid because he doesn’t need to be here, mopping up the café where Louis works when he could be at home, taking advantage of the hour he has without Louis there yelling at him to turn the damn music down.

 

“Are you kidding?” Liam asks and Louis’ grin widens.

 

“I wish I were kiddo, but I’ve got to balance the till so I guess you’re stuck with the mopping.”

 

Liam scowls at him from across the shop. “Or I could, you know, go home and leave you to do your own job,” he says, but he’s already making his way to the storeroom where he knows the mop is kept, which is bloody ridiculous in it’s own right because this isn’t even the first time Louis has convinced him to help with closing up shop and he should know how to refuse him by now.

 

Louis smiles at him again and flutters his eyelashes in Liam’s general direction. “You’re the best Li,” he says. “I’ll give you a blowjob later to make up for it.”

 

Liam doesn’t doubt that Louis isn’t kidding and he rolls his eyes. “If you come anywhere near my dick, I will kick you so hard you’ll be looking for yours for days.”

 

Louis laughs so hard that his eyes do that thing where they go all crinkly in the corners and Liam sighs and thinks for the thousandth time that this is not how he imagined his adult life to pan out.

 

\---

 

Liam hates being woken up and he hates even more being woken up by a Louis banging on his door before ten in the morning. “Liam wake up! The world is on fire or something equally as tragic and panic-inducing!” he calls through the door and Liam groans and tries to throw a pillow in the general direction that his voice is coming from, but he’s pretty sure the pillow doesn’t even make it off his bed. Louis doesn’t stop knocking and Liam wishes that he would just open the bloody door because it’s _not even locked_ , but Louis has always liked making a huge fuss all the time.

 

“What?” Liam yells back and he can hear Louis sigh dramatically before flinging the door open. It crashes against the wall and Louis strides into the room, collapsing onto the bed next to Liam, cuddling up into his side and wrapping an arm over his chest. “Seriously Lou, what’s the emergency?”

 

Louis snuffles his nose into Liam’s neck and breathes deeply for a minute. “I’m bored,” he says and Liam groans because, seriously? That’s why Louis woke him up early on a _weekday_ before ten?

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he says and Louis shrugs, sitting up and facing Liam with a smile.

 

“I didn’t sign up for a roommate who sleeps all the time,” Louis whines and he sticks his lower lip out and pouts at Liam. “You need to _entertain_ me Liam! I need to laugh to breathe.” Liam raises and eyebrow and Louis holds his breath for a while, his face going alarmingly red and his cheeks puffing out for effect. Liam sighs because he doesn’t _really_ want to give Louis CPR this morning and that’s where he foresees this going because Louis is the kind to actually hold his breath to prove a point. So Liam pokes one of Louis’ cheeks and his breath rushes out of him in a raspberry that has him giggling as he gasps for air. “You almost let me die!” he exclaims and Liam smiles at him fondly.

 

“Why are you even up so early?” he says after Louis catches his breath and Louis rolls back onto his back so that he’s lying next to Liam.

 

“Some asshole texted me at like eight and woke me up,” he says with a sigh. “I couldn’t really be fucked to make breakfast so I figured I’d wait for you to wake up. Then I got hungry.”

 

Liam groans because of _course_ Louis would be too lazy to make his own breakfast, but he honestly can’t help but love him and they’ve been friends for so long now that it barely even bothers Liam anymore and that’s kind of the problem. “Who was the text even from?” he asks because Louis knows a lot of people, but most of them operate on the same time schedule as Liam, meaning that they stay up late and wake up late and for someone to text Louis before noon is an anomaly. It’s a crime worth being punished for in Liam’s opinion because if Louis is awake in the apartment, there’s a high chance that Liam won’t be able to stay asleep for much longer. Louis has a habit of forgetting that there are other people in the world other than him who might be enjoying a perfectly nice slumber and ends up blasting some crappy pop music or attempting to burn the house down cooking eggs or  
generally making a ruckus. He always manages to find a way.

 

Louis wrinkles his nose as he thinks and then shrugs. “I don’t think I read it,” he said. “It’s obviously not a text worth reading if the person who sent it is enough of an idiot to be up at eight.” Liam laughs and shoves Louis in the side until he rolls gracelessly off the bed and collapses in a sprawl on the floor. He doesn’t look too upset about it and actually stays there for a minute, limbs all spreadeagled, grinning up at Liam before he pokes his tongue out and army crawls towards the door. “If I don’t see you in the kitchen in two minutes I’m coming back in here and I’m bringing backup.”

 

“What kind of backup?” Liam says and he’s a bit nervous about the twinkle in Louis’ eye.

 

“Dunno,” Louis says. “Was thinking something along the lines of one of your precious records held perilously close to a lighter.”

 

Liam is out of bed before Louis is even out the door.

 

He takes a second to pull on a t shirt and rub a hand through his hair before he joins Louis in the kitchen. Louis is scrolling through his phone with a grin on a face that always means trouble and Liam sighs. “What?” he asks and Louis’ eyes don’t even flick up from where he is now tapping out a reply. His fingers are flying across the keys and Liam has the overwhelming urge to leap across the bench and snatch the phone out of Louis’ hands because he looks like he’s plotting something that Liam won’t like. He has that look on his face like he’s trying very hard not to look suspicious.

 

“Sent!” he exclaims and Liam hears the _whoosh_ as the text flies off his phone. “Now there’s nothing you can do.”

 

“Louis, what the hell?” Liam asks and he’s a little annoyed now because Lou has been being a pain all morning. First the wake up call and now the stupid smile like he is enjoying every crease in Liam’s forehead a little more than he ought to be.

 

“You’ll never guess who that text was from,” he says.

 

Liam sighs. “Probably not, but I can bet you’re about to tell me.”

 

“You remember a few weeks ago when I was drunk out of my mind and basically told some kid on a bus that you’d be up for giving him a record deal?”

 

Liam’s heart thumps in his chest and his stomach drops. “ _No_ ,” he says like he honestly can’t believe it. It’s _two weeks_ later for God’s sake and he’s really been hoping that that whole ship had sailed and he was never going to have to worry about that bright eyed boy every again. He can’t even remember his name (it’s Harry of course, but he’s telling himself that he doesn’t remember) and now Louis has gone and done something stupid and it’s probably going to make all of them uncomfortable and awkward and Liam really doesn’t want to deal with it. “There’s no way he texted after all this time,” Liam says and Louis steps around the bench and brandishes the phone in front of his face.

 

_Hi, Louis right? This is Harry – the kid from the bus (you might remember the dumb curly hair)! I don’t know how serious you were about your friend being willing to maybe listen to some stuff of mine, but I don’t really have any other options so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. Thanks anyway, Harry .xx_

 

Louis’ reply is directly under the text and Liam glares up at his friend before reading it.

 

_harold ! pleasure to hear from you mate, no worries – i work at the little coffee shop right on the corner of regent and oxford and i finish up at 5 so if you head over around then liam will be there to help me close up_

 

Liam groans and contemplates whether throwing the phone at Louis’ head or out the window would upset him more. “I hope you know I’m not going,” he says and Louis’ face falls instantly.

 

“Liam!” he cries and he sounds so disappointed that Liam immediately feels terrible. And seriously, screw Louis and his uncanny ability to have every single person in the world on his side.

 

“You’re unbelievable.”

 

“I’m _great_ ,” Louis says with a smile. Liam sends daggers in his direction, but Louis doesn’t even seem to notice. He’s already pouring himself a glass of orange juice. “You don’t have to sign him or anything,” Louis says and Liam scoffs because there is _no way_ he is just going to give this kid a record deal. “Just listen to him play or something. Tell him to come back in a few years when he’s seen the world or slept with a transvestite or whatever it is you say to people to get them to fuck off.”

 

Sometimes Liam has trouble believing that Louis is a real person that ended up being _his_ friend. He’s so flustered about the whole thing that he forgets to eat anything before he heads to work at twelve thirty and when he texts Louis to whinge about it, all he gets in reply is a series of emoticons that mean absolutely nothing when strung together.

 

\---

 

Liam does end up making his way to the coffee shop at the end of the day because he likes to think he’s a good friend and he usually does things that Louis asks him to do. It’s bloody freezing while he walks there and he wraps his coat tighter around himself and blows on his hands to try and keep them warm. It’s absurd how cold it can still be in London in _spring_ and he wishes he’d brought a jumper as well as his coat, but it’ll be warm inside the coffee shop and he’s almost there.

 

“Lou?” he calls out when he gets there and Louis appears from out the back, wiping his hands on a tea towel. He looks relieved to see Liam, like he really thought that he wouldn’t show. Liam _always_ shows. Even if he acts like he isn’t going to, he can’t let a friend down and he knows that it would be awkward for Louis if he’s promised Harry that he’ll get to talk to Liam and he shows up to find no one there. Besides, Liam’s actually had a chance to think about the situation and he figures that it’s not the worst thing that could have happened. If anything, he can help the kid out in some way, send him in the right direction and he’ll be a hero in Louis’ eyes because of it. Louis is always wildly impressed with how successful Liam is (which isn’t that successful to be honest).

 

“You’re here!” Louis says happily and grabs Liam and sits him down at the one table that doesn’t have it’s chairs stacked on top of it. “The good news is, I already mopped.”  
Liam smiles and kicks his bag under his chair. He wonders if Louis would consider making him a coffee if he smiles really sweetly. “So you finally decided to actually do your job then?” Liam asks and Louis sneers at him playfully.

 

“Whatever,” he says. “Harry should be here any minute.” Liam nods and Louis pops back out the back to finish washing the dishes. Liam can hear a bit of banging around and Louis’ soft whistling filtering out through the door.

 

When the bell finally chimes as Harry walks in, Liam has been sitting there playing Fruit Ninja for at least ten minutes. He looks up and can’t help but smile at the sight that greets him. Harry’s obviously just been out in the cold wind and his hair is all over his face, almost completely shielding his slightly pink cheeks from view. He looks up and brushes the hair off his face, already grinning at Liam sheepishly before he waves.

 

“Hey,” he says breathlessly, just as Louis appears from out the back again.

 

“Harold!” he calls excitedly and Harry snaps his head to the side to look at Louis and if it’s even possible, his smile grows even wider. Liam feels a little disgruntled that the extra wide smile only appeared when Louis walked in, but he figures it’s fair enough considering Harry and Louis seem to know each other a little better and if his instinct is any good, he’d be willing to bet that they’ve been texting all day since they set up the meeting in the morning. Louis is a bit like that and has always been super good at making new friends faster than you can blink. Louis pulls Harry into a hug and immediately shrieks and pulls away. “Are you fucking kidding, your nose is like an icicle!” he yells and Harry laughs, reaching up a hand to cover his nose bashfully. Liam smiles and he doesn’t really know why, but it’s probably something to do with the dimples.

 

“Sorry,” Harry mumbles and blushes when he sees Liam looking at him. “Is it cool if I chat to you for a minute?” he asks and Liam tilts his head as though to say _sure_.  
Louis starts to back away towards the kitchen and says, “Be safe kids. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” but the effect of the display is kind of ruined when he walks straight into the counter and yelps, cradling his hip as he sulks into the kitchen. When Liam turns to look at Harry, he’s biting his lip as though he’s trying to hold in a laugh and Liam smiles at him.

 

“Sorry about the set up,” Liam says. “I don’t actually have an office.”

 

Harry shrugs and leans forwards on the table. “It’s cool. One of my mates has a friend who works here so we come here a bit. Not too hard to find and hey, it’s warm at least.” He crinkles his nose a bit and it’s completely adorable actually. “Sorry, I mean. We only met once and it was ages ago, so I guess I should introduce myself again. I’m Harry.”  
Liam can’t really believe that this is happening and it’s all a bit weird but he takes the hand that Harry’s offering across the table and shakes it firmly. “Liam.”

 

“So, Liam,” Harry says. “I don’t really know how this whole thing works. I could give you a CD of my stuff or something?”

 

Harry looks almost excruciatingly hopeful now, and Liam suspects that Louis has spent the whole day telling him how Liam is some big shot at a record company who is going to make him famous all over the world, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Liam’s company is basically a platform for original artists where they can start off, using their equipment to record songs properly and maybe try and get their record out there, but usually their artists will seek bigger and better agencies once they’ve got a bit of recognition. It’s just how it works. “I’m going to be honest with you Harry,” Liam says and Harry chews on his bottom lip. “I don’t know how much I’ll be able to help you out with this whole thing. I don’t know what Louis’ told you, but I don’t actually have that much of a role in the producing side of the music down at the studio. Mostly, I just work on the radio. I can probably try to set you up with one of the bigger guys down there, but I honestly don’t think I can do anything for you but offer you a job stacking CDs and going on coffee runs with a chance to muck around in the recording studio in between.”

 

Harry looks at Liam like he can’t believe it and Liam feels a bit bad because maybe Louis got his hopes up a little too much and he’d hate the be the guy who makes Harry’s face fall. He’s got the most open, genuine smile and Liam’s pretty sure it would be devastating to be responsible for it if it were to go away. “Are you kidding?” Harry asks and Liam can feel his brow crease because he’s a little confused. “That would be sick!”

 

Oh.

 

“Really?” Liam asks because he doesn’t know how anyone could find the idea of coffee runs appealing, but hey, to each their own.

 

“I’d be working around music,” Harry says. “It beats my crappy Arts degree, for sure.”

 

“You’re at uni?” Liam asks because that could be an issue. He can’t really give Harry a part time job after all.

 

Harry shrugs though and grins at him. “I’m enrolled, but I don’t really go,” he says and Liam is about to cluck his tongue and tell Harry that he really should go to his tutorials at least, but he’s not really in a position to say anything considering he dropped out of uni himself to pursue a career in the music industry. He’s getting there at least. He just has a head start on Harry.

 

“You seriously want a job down at the station?” Liam asks and Harry nods. “You know you’d have to be there all day?” He nods again. “Even when I’m not there and the cranky guy on in the mornings makes you get him about fifteen coffees before it even hits nine?” Harry laughs and he’s smiling as he nods his head, his dimples bouncing on his cheeks. “Are you mental?” he asks incredulously.

 

“Probably!” Harry says with a grin and Liam smiles, trying not to think about the way Harry’s are infuriatingly bright.

 

“Then you’ll fit right in.”

 

\---

 

“Did you know Harry knows Zayn?” Louis asks about a week after their meeting in the coffee shop. Harry had left Liam with his details and Liam had promised to get in touch with him as soon as he spoke to his boss about hiring Harry. But Louis has been talking to him all week and from what Liam has gathered, they’ve actually managed to strike up a friendship pretty quickly. Louis is kind of becomes infatuated with the idea of knowing everything about everyone he knows and so Liam is pretty sure he’s got Harry’s whole life story figured out by now. It’s been a week after all, and that is more than enough time.

 

“I didn’t know that, no,” Liam says and Louis grins because he likes it when Liam plays along.

 

“Yeah, well, Harry’s mate Niall is actually best friends with Zayn and the three of them hang out together all the time. I’ve heard Zayn talk about Harry loads of times and I never made the connection that the Harry we met on the bus was _Zayn’s_ Harry. Not that I would because Harry is a pretty common name, but you get the idea.”

 

Liam nods and shovels some muesli into his mouth while Louis prattles off some other details about his new friend’s life that Liam probably doesn’t care about, like the fact that Harry’s favourite colour of underwear is navy and he puts his milk in the bowl before his cereal and he is insecure about himself at least one day a week and Liam doesn’t really want to know what the hell kind of conversations they’ve been having that Louis knows this much already. It’s kind of spooky to be honest.

 

Liam tunes out and focuses on his breakfast. It’s a lot more interesting than anything that’s coming out of Louis’ mouth and he only starts listening again when Louis keeps saying his name over and over.

 

“Liam!”

 

His head snaps up, the spoon still hanging out of his mouth and Louis laughs at the expression on his face before reaching over and pulling the spoon out of his mouth with a pop. “Oi!” Liam yelps and goes to snatch the spoon back, but Louis dangles it just out of reach.

 

“That’s what you get for not listening to me,” he says, folding his arms across his chest and smirking at Liam. “Anyway. As I was saying – Harry invited the two of us out for drinks tonight and I accepted on your behalf, so you don’t really have a choice even if you don’t want to because it would be rude to back out now. You wouldn’t want to be rude would you Liam?”

 

Liam sighs and tries to glare at Louis but it never really works when he tries to glare at Louis so his face sort of just looks a bit sour like he’s swallowed something disgusting. 

 

“You’re pretty much the worst person I know,” Liam says and Louis whoops.

 

“Then I guess my life hasn’t gone to waste!”

 

“What time are we meeting them?” Liam asks and Louis finally gives him back his spoon so that he can finish eating his breakfast.

 

“Five, so you’ll probably want to start getting ready soon.”

 

Liam glances at the clock on the wall and raises his eyebrows. “Louis, it’s three in the afternoon.” He gestures to his bowl of cereal as though that will help demonstrate his point and really, it’ a pretty common occurrence for Liam to eat breakfast in the late afternoon on a Saturday when he doesn’t have to work.

 

“And you’ll probably take thirty minutes in the shower at least and then another twenty getting dressed and then a while helping me get ready because I can never decide what to wear,” Louis says and Liam is grateful that at least Louis can admit that he’s absolutely hopeless when it comes to getting dressed and ready.

 

“First stage of recovery is acceptance,” Liam says seriously and Louis giggles.

 

“I’m not that bad!” he squawks and Liam raises an eyebrow at him.

 

“Remember when we were meant to go to Greece for the summer when we finished school and we ended up missing our flight because you couldn’t decide whether to wear blue or grey sweatpants?”

 

“There might have been a hot flight attendant on the plane Liam – I needed to make sure I was wearing pants that would both accentuate my arse and bring out my eyes! Sue me if I want to put in a little effort to look nice and comfortable at the same time. Looking great comes at a price, not that I’d expect _you_ to know anything about that!”

 

It’s a bit of a sensitive subject.

 

\---

 

When Louis finally drags Liam through the door of the pub, he makes a beeline straight for the back. Liam doesn’t really know how Lou knew that that was where his friends would be sitting, but Louis’ always been good at that kind of thing. He recognises the back of Harry’s curly hair and Zayn sitting opposite him. He’s met Zayn a few times at the coffee shop when he’s been there and the two of them get on well enough, but Liam always feels a little left out of Zayn and Louis’ giggling behind the counter.

 

“Hey lads!” Louis says brightly when the two of them reach the table and Zayn looks up and grins spectacularly.

 

“Lou!” he says excitedly. “This is Harry, which you know and this is my best friend Niall.” He gestures to the blonde boy sitting next to him who’s got a half empty bottle of beer perched on the table in front of him. “This is Liam and Louis.”

 

Harry budges up and lets Liam slide in next to him while Louis pulls up a chair and seats it at the head of the table. It’s actually pretty appropriate because Louis always ends up being the life of the party.

 

“How’s it going?” Harry asks quietly, leaning in to Liam’s side to speak to him and Liam looks at him, a little puzzled and a littler flustered that Harry is addressing him privately.

 

“Uh, well, I spoke to my boss – ”

 

Harry laughs and cuts him off. “I didn’t mean about the job thing,” he says. “I meant, you know, in general. How are you? You look a little stressed.” He smiles warmly and Liam quirks an eyebrow at him.

 

“I’m fine thanks,” he says and Harry shrugs.

 

“Whatever you say man.” He turns to address the table and asks if anyone wants a drink. Both Niall and Louis answer in the affirmative while Zayn gestures to the bottle of beer that he’s still nursing. When Harry stands up to get the drinks, Liam is left feeling like he’s missed an opportunity that he should have seized.

 

“You okay?” Louis asks quietly and Liam snaps his head up to look at him, attempting to relax his face from the frown he’s sure it’s settled in and he smiles and nods just as Harry squeezes back into the booth. He’s pressed up pretty close next to Liam and he’s all warm and smiling as he passes the bottles across the table. When he leans back against the seat with a rush of air and his scent floods over Liam. And he smells like…a garden. It sounds ridiculous, even to Liam, but he grew up next to an old lady who was obsessed with her garden, grew all types of amazing colourful flowers. And that’s exactly what Harry smells like – like the most colourful garden Liam has ever seen.

 

When he tunes back into the conversation taking place around him, Niall is chattering animatedly to Zayn. “What if you descend onto the roof of her apartment building in a hot air balloon?” he says and Zayn’s face absolutely lights up at the idea before falling almost instantly.

 

“I don’t know how to fly a hot air balloon Ni,” he says and Niall bites his lip for a moment.

 

“What about a horse drawn carriage?”

 

“That could work,” Zayn says and Louis finally intervenes, throwing his hands up in the air and leaning forwards to plot with the two of them.

 

“You’re thinking about this all wrong,” he says. “You’ve got to do a heap of small gestures that show you really like her rather than one big gesture that could work on anyone, you know?”

 

Liam must look completely bewildered because Harry chuckles and leans into him a bit to talk to him. It’s not really that loud in the pub so Liam doesn’t know why he keeps doing it, but it’s sort of nice. “Zayn’s keen on this girl Perrie,” he explains. “He and Niall like to think they’re proper good with the ladies. They come up with some pretty elaborate plans to get girls to notice them.

 

“This one time,” Niall pipes up from across the table, “I wrote a song for a girl and then asked my friend, who’s a hacker, to tap into the radio station at BBC and we got the song playing on loop for half an hour before the tech guys there could figure out a way to kick him off the system. It was sick.”

 

Liam looks at him in surprise. “And did it work?” he asks.

 

Niall grins and nods enthusiastically. “Yeah man, we dated for a few weeks.”

 

“Until she found out that Niall is incapable of cooking and cleaning and washing,” Zayn says and Niall socks him in the arm.

 

“Don’t be a dick,” he says and Zayn opens his mouth to interrupt before Louis gasps and leans towards them, essentially blocking Harry out from them completely.

 

“What about you bake her cookies with a message on them!” he says enthusiastically and Zayn grins and the conversation begins again, Niall’s eyes flicking between the two of them excitedly.

 

Harry sighs where he’s sitting next to Liam and leans his elbow onto the table to face him properly. It’s fair enough considering the other three aren’t exactly including them in their conversation. Liam would consider it rude if the three of them didn’t seem so genuine and really serious about the whole wooing Perrie thing. “So how do you get a girl to go out with you?” Harry asks and Liam looks at him.

 

“Hmm?” he asks, zoning in properly.

 

“You know, do you go elaborate or do you go for the simple ‘Hi, I’m Liam. I lift weights and apart from my weird sexy nurse role play kink, I’m totally normal and would make a great boyfriend, can I have your number?’ approach?” Liam gapes at him and Harry is wearing the most serious expression that he honestly can’t tell if he’s just amazing at keeping a straight face or he honestly says things like that all the time.

 

“Uh.” Liam splutters for a minute and he’s not sure what to say. “I don’t usually do that…ask girls out I mean.”

 

“Oh, so you’re one of the cocky guys who waits for the girls to come to him, is that it?” Harry asks and he’s teasing now, if the huge grin on his face is anything to go by. Liam wants to smack that grin right off his face and hope that it will make the twisting in his stomach go away.

 

“No, I mean – usually I’m asking guys out,” he says and Harry’s eyes widen. Liam gives himself a mental pat on the back for managing to surprise Harry. He seems to recover from it pretty quickly though and if Liam had blinked at the wrong moment, he probably would have missed Harry’s surprise altogether.

 

“Yeah?” Harry asks. “And what does a guy have to do to get asked out by the likes of you?” And okay, that’s definitely flirting, isn’t it? He doesn’t know how he feels about Harry flirting with him to be honest. Harry’s good looking, sure – annoyingly so in a way. He’s got the hair and the dimples and the perfect smile and those eyes that shine like nothing else. He’s almost too good to be true and there’s no reason why he would be flirting with Liam, who is pretty much the most boring looking guy out there. There’s nothing special about Liam, but Harry seems to be pretty special. He smells like a _garden_ for Christ’s sake and so Liam decides that there’s no way that it’s actually flirting. Harry is just being nice.

 

He’s about to answer when Zayn leans across the table. “Oi Liam,” he says. “Louis says you can bake.”

 

\---

 

Liam shows up at work a few days later and Harry is sitting in the staff lounge. He’s got his legs kicked up on the coffee table and they’re in these jeans that look too tight to be real, all long and gangly and awkward but somehow exceptional. It makes Liam a bit hot and bothered, which is absolutely not okay.

 

“What’re you doing here?” he asks, perhaps a bit snappily and Harry jumps, his feet flying off the table as he spins around to look at Liam. He grins widely when he sees who it is and shrugs.

 

“Reckon your boss gave me a call,” he says and stands up to pull Liam into a quick hug. It’s a bit awkward because Liam wasn’t expecting it, but he falls into it anyway, only bringing up his arms to return the embrace when Harry was already stepping away. He looks at Liam a bit funny and Liam blushes. “You know you’ve got icing in your hair, right?” he asks and Liam can feel his face burning as he scowls.

 

“It’s bloody Zayn, he’s recruited me to make his dumb cookies for Perrie and he didn’t even help. Of _course_ he let me leave the house with icing through my damn hair.” He hitches his bag up further onto his shoulder, scrubbing his hand through his hair and watching as a few bits of blue icing fall down onto the front of his daggy t shirt. He starts to make his way into the studio, waving at Ed who’s got the shift before him. Ed isn’t too bad – he plays good enough music, but it’s a bit too mellow for Liam’s taste. He prefers soft rock to the crooning guitar that Ed flicks on when he has the show from ten until one.

 

Harry follows him into the studio and when Liam stops and turns around to raise an eyebrow at him, Harry almost stumbles into him and reaches out a hand to steady himself on Liam’s shoulder, laughing. “Sorry,” he says. “You’ve got a bit of icing still.” He reaches up a finger to brush the icing from the corner of Liam’s jaw, lifting his hand to his own mouth to suck it clean. Liam’s mouth goes inexplicably dry and Harry smirks around his finger before sliding it out of his mouth with a pop. That’s ridiculous, right? It’s so overtly sexual that there’s got to be something else going on. “I was thinking you could show me around the recording part of the studio when you’ve finished with your show,” Harry says and Liam thinks _there it is_. It makes a lot more sense that Harry would be flirting with him because he wants something from Liam. Still, he’s not really in the capacity to say no after Harry’s display so he just sort of nods and croaks out an affirmative answer before escaping into the booth and leaving Harry with a cocked head and a small smile.

 

Ed flicks his last song on and stands up to smile at Liam, shuffling out from behind the control panel, beaming. Ed is always happy and it’s sometimes a bit annoying when Liam’s pissed because Louis woke him up again or a really attractive kid with curly hair just flirted with him with an ulterior motive. “Hey man, good weekend?” Ed says and Liam shrugs.

 

“Can’t complain.”

 

“See you met the new intern then,” he continues. “He’s awesome, right?” Liam laughs and slides in behind the desk, already lining up the first song on his playlist. He flicks it on as Ed’s song comes to an end so that he can finish the conversation with him. He feels a little protective over Harry, like he needs to affirm that _he_ knew him first and that’s so stupid. He honestly doesn’t know what his brain is doing today.

 

“Yeah, he’s mates with Lou, so I helped him get the job,” Liam offers, and that doesn’t sound too bad, does it?

 

“Well, he’s great. He asked if he could pick a few songs on my playlist for tomorrow and I figured why not? The kid’s got great taste in music. He likes the Klaxons _and_ Band of Skulls so I reckon you’ll love his taste.”

 

Liam grinds his teeth together and tries to smile. He likes Ed, really, he does and he doesn’t want to be mad at him. “Yeah, I know,” he says lowly as the song grinds to a halt. Ed slips out of the booth as Liam starts to talk. “Hey there, this is Liam Payne and I’ll be looking after you lovely people until five this afternoon. You’ll have to excuse me if I’m a bit on edge today. One of my mates forced me to make cookies for him this morning. He’s trying to woo a girl and if you’re listening Zayn, my angry mix is all for you. That last one was _Needled Heart_ brought to you by BOSCO and now I’m going to play _Blue Blood Blues_ by one of my favourite bands – The Dead Weather.”

 

He sighs as he clicks on the song, leaning back in his chair. He’s not actually that good at talking to people and he always feels a bit awkward when he’s speaking on the radio. He wasn’t born and bread for it like proper radio hosts. He really just loves music and wants to play stuff that he likes. Harry is grinning and waving at him through the glass window of the booth, giving him a toothy smile and two thumbs up. Liam furrows his brow at him and mouths _what?_ through the glass. Harry rolls his eyes and reaches down to scribble on a piece of paper before holding it up and pressing it against the glass.

 

_LOVE this song li!_

 

It’s really not fair that he’s fantastically good looking and also has a killer taste in music. Liam switches the microphone on to _studio_ and says, “Make yourself useful and go grab me a cup of tea would you?” and before Harry can do something dumb like write something else on a piece of paper he adds, “Milk and three sugars.”

 

\---

 

A week later and Liam is finally getting used to finding Harry sprawled out on the staff lounge when he gets to work. And then he gets there early and Harry is nowhere to be seen. There’s a takeaway coffee on the table instead and it’s got _have fun with this li_ scribbled on the side in Louis’ messy scrawl, so he figures that Harry’s popped down to the coffee shop at some point and picked it up for him. It’s still warm when Liam picks it up and he sniffs it cautiously. It smells fucking weird and not a bit like coffee, but he knows he needs caffeine and Harry is nowhere to be seen so the chances of getting a cuppa made for him are pretty slim.

 

The coffee is disgusting. He’s pretty sure it has at least two ridiculous syrups in there and he’s willing to bet they’re caramel and mint. Who the hell puts caramel and mint together in a coffee? He’s got fifteen minutes to kill before his shift starts, so he figures he can go find Harry and chastise him about the awful beverage before he starts. He’s spent the last week finding things to chastise Harry about because it’s a lot easier than being nice to him. He figures that sooner or later, Harry will get the hint and stop trying to flirt with him. He tries yelling Harry’s name into the empty corridor and when he gets no response, he shoots him a text.

 

_werr r u this cofee tastes lik shit_

 

Harry replies almost straight away and Liam rolls his eyes and thinks that he probably should have checked there straight away.

 

_In the studio. Come listen .x_

 

He doesn’t even want to know if Harry does that stupid little dot x thing for all his friends because he thinks he’ll be annoyed either way, whether it’s just for him or if he signs off like that no matter who he’s texting. So he just shakes his head, pockets his phone and heads down the hall to the soundproof studio at the very end.

 

Liam lets himself in and Harry is sitting in the recording booth. There are a few lights on the panel flashing, so he figures Harry’s flicked it on to record and then shuffled into the booth. He’s got a guitar slung over his shoulders and he’s plucking at the strings in a way that makes them twang out very nicely. Liam likes it actually and wonders if it’s an original song.

 

He slides into the chair behind the panel and pulls on the closest pair of headphones, flicking on the mic. “Let’s see what you’ve got Styles,” he says and he sounds a lot more confident than he feels. Harry swivels around on the chair and grins at Liam, waving dopily.  
“Hey!” he yells into the microphone and Liam winces when it bounces against his eardrums, trying to glare at Harry but he looks so apologetic and sheepish that he ends up laughing at the pained expression on Harry’s face. “Sorry, sorry,” he says quickly. “What do you want me to play? I mean, I have original songs and – ”

 

Liam takes pity on him. “Just play me whatever you were playing when I walked in.”  
Harry relaxes into the seat and checks the tuning on the guitar. He has a pedal set up under his stool and Liam figures that’s where the twang he had before was coming from. When he finally has himself all figured out, he looks up at Liam and smiles a dazzling smile before nodding and focussing on the fretboard.

 

Liam’s never actually heard Harry play. He knew he could play the guitar considering he’s had his case lying around in the studio all week, and he knows Harry has a good range because he never stops humming and singing under his breath. But the way his voice sounds when he’s really _singing_ – well, it’s like nothing Liam’s ever heard before. 

 

It’s husky, but the way he retains the same throaty quality when he’s singing the high notes of the song is actually amazing and his fingers fly across the strings like it’s another part of his body. He looks so at home on the stool, his foot occasionally pressing down on the pedal to change the sound of the song, a small crease in the middle of his forehead that’s mostly obscured by his floppy fringe and the long column of his neck stretched upwards to reach the mic that he’s set up a little bit too high. He sounds _great_ and Liam is thrown, doesn’t really know what to say.

 

He can barely even listen to the words of the song, but he knows that it’s good. The music is clever and he really knows how to compose. Contrary to what Liam had been thinking since he met Harry on the bus, he’s not just some kid with a pipedream. He’s got actual talent and Liam makes up his mind right away that he’s going to do everything in his power to make sure Harry puts his talent to good use.

 

When Harry finishes the song, he looks up at Liam and he’s gnawing on his bottom lip like he thinks Liam might have hated it or something and Liam wonders if anyone has _ever_ said a bad thing about Harry’s music. “That okay?” Harry asks and Liam smiles, shaking his head.

 

“Not too shabby at all mate,” he says and Harry’s face lights up.

 

“Really?” he asks happily and then he shakes his head as though he doesn’t mean to look so pleased. “I mean, reckon I could get guys by telling them I’m some big shot musician?”  
Liam laughs and shrugs. “I think you’d do okay.” It’s an understatement, really, but he’s not going to give Harry anything more than that.

 

“Reckon it would work on you?” Harry asks with a smirk and Liam rolls his eyes.

 

“Gonna have to try harder than that Harry,” he says. He’s kind of used to the flirting by now. He gets it, Harry wants a record deal and he thinks that if Liam likes him enough, he’ll help him on his way there. It’s actually not a bad plan, but Liam’s pretty determined not to fall for it. Harry’s too special and he’ll probably end up in the deep end and forget how to swim or however the saying goes.

 

Harry just shrugs and winks at him. “I’ve got plenty of time to win you over.” He strums a chord on the guitar before looking up at Liam. “Shouldn’t you be in the radio booth?”  
Liam looks at his watch and curses, grabbing his bag and hoisting it onto his shoulder. He flips the bird at Harry through the glass door as he leaves the recording booth.

 

\---

 

Liam’s lying on the sofa listening to Absynthe Minded. He’s got a cup of coffee (none of that flavoured bullshit Harry keeps getting him) balanced on his chest and he’s writing a playlist for tomorrow’s show when Louis slams through the door. He’s later than he usually would be – it’s almost eight, but he’s got a few shopping bags swinging by his side, so Liam thinks it’s best not to complain.

 

“What the fuck is this jaunty bullshit?” he asks straight away and Liam sighs. “Aren’t you meant to listen to gloomy music only?”

 

Liam chucks his playlist onto the stack on records that’s balanced precariously next to the couch and glares at Louis. “Just because it’s upbeat doesn’t mean it’s complete crap,” he deadpans. “ _Pretty Horny Flow_ is a great song.” Louis rolls his eyes and drops a bag of shopping on the floor by the door. A can of baked beans rolls out of it and under the little cupboard that’s meant to be for letters and keys, but is actually just piled high with crap like old shopping lists and notes about how Louis is going out and won’t be back for a few hours that Liam never finds until a week or two later.

 

“Pick that up before you forget it’s there.”

 

Louis grins at him. “I think I should leave it there,” he says. “What if there’s an apocalypse and we start to run out of non-perishable food and we’re in our last can of pickles and just as we start to weep and consider eating our own fingers, we drop a pickle and it rolls under the cupboard and we scrabble to get to it first and there it is, the glorious can of beans, emanating a soft light. An orchestra starts up and our tears dry on our faces. Two days later, we open the can of beans just as the army arrives and saves us from the zombies that have been slowly surrounding our flat.”

 

Liam doesn’t think he’s ever known someone as ridiculous as Louis. “We don’t even own a can of pickles,” he says and Louis sighs.

 

“Semantics Liam. Where’s your sense of practicality?”

 

Liam groans. “Are you really trying to lecture _me_ about practicality?” he asks.  
Louis makes his way into the kitchen and Liam rolls off the couch to follow him, grabbing the can of baked beans on the way. “I’ll have you know Liam,” Louis says as he starts stacking their cupboards with new jars of jam that they definitely don’t need. “I am an exceptionally practical person.”

 

“Give me one example where you chose the practical option.” It’s a legitimate question because Louis is quite the fan of doing the exact opposite of what would be sensible in every situation that happens to arise. Sure, it’s interesting, but it can be quite a dangerous trait at times. Liam’s never forgotten the time Louis thought it would be a good idea to tie his mate Stan to the roof of his car when it was too full to fit another person in it. It had all ended with a bang when Louis had slammed on the breaks and Stan had flown off the roof and into a convenient pile of leaves by the side of the road.

 

“I can give you one from today in fact!” Louis says and Liam leans against the counter and folds his arms across his chest to wait for the story.

 

“Go on,” he says and Louis grins.

 

“So this fit guy came into the coffee shop right before closing, right?” Liam nods. “He was kind of giving me the _look_ if you know what I mean. So I bribed Zayn into doing clean up by himself at the end of the day and went home with him. Managed to get him to fuck me quite convincingly into his mattress after giving me a great blowjob actually.” And okay, those are some details that Liam really didn’t need or want to know.

 

“How is that practical in any way?” Liam asks and Louis grins cheekily.

 

“It’s not,” he says, laughing. “I just wanted to make you jealous because I got laid and you’re all sexually frustrated over Harry. The practical part was that I remembered that we had no food so I left and went shopping rather than staying the night for another round. Probably wouldn’t have anyway though. Nick’s got a wicked tongue and he had the gall to slap my arse when I left. Little shit.”

 

Liam gapes at Louis for a minute. “You’re bloody mental,” he says. Then he realises what Louis’ just said. “And I’m not sexually frustrated over Harry.”

 

“You’ve been taking longer showers,” Louis says, narrowing his eyes, and it sounds so accusatory and dramatic that a laugh bursts out of Liam. “What?” Louis squawks and he looks so put off that Liam is laughing at him that he actually feels a bit bad. Before remembering that Louis is accusing him of being attracted to Harry. Which is…slightly true, but he’s not about to admit it to anyone, least of all Louis who will make a big screaming deal over it and try to set them up.

 

“It’s just funny,” Liam says. “I’m not into Harry, trust me.” It’s such a lie that Liam feels the corner of his mouth twitch like it always does when he’s bullshitting, but Louis is too caught up in the moment to notice.

 

“I think he’s into you if it’s any consolation. Don’t act like you haven’t noticed the flirting.” And of _course_ Liam’s noticed the flirting. Harry is at it all the bloody time. It never ends and it’s exhausting to try and ignore his advances, but it’s all a big joke, really, because Harry and Liam wouldn’t work. Harry’s young and interesting and he has dreams and Liam’s boring. End of story.

 

“Shut up,” Liam grumbles and starts to leave, but Louis follows him out of the kitchen.

 

“Where are you going? To have a shower and wank away your sorrows?” he asks and Liam groans.

 

“Leave it Louis, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

“I hope your dick falls off,” he says and Liam has to catch himself before he says something stupid like _yeah, me too_.

 

\---

 

“Can I make a cameo appearance on your show today?” Harry asks. He’s been working at the station for a few weeks now and in between doing menial jobs and mucking around in the studio and getting people stupid coffee flavours (Liam thinks the worst was the cherry and lemon combination), he’s tried a few times to convince Liam to let him on air for a few minutes. “Once I was the PA for swimming carnival at my school because I convinced the IT guy I was too sick to swim. He let me announce the winners in a Daffy Duck accent, so I’d say I’m prepared for it.”

 

Liam doesn’t mean to laugh, but he does. He likes Harry better when he’s not trying to be suave. “Yeah alright,” Liam says, just because the image of a young Harry wrapped in a brightly coloured towel, straining to reach the microphone to announce the winners at swimming carnival is too adorable for him to bother refusing. “You get three songs and that’s it, okay?” he asks and Harry grins wildly like it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him.

 

When it comes time for Liam to hand over to Harry, he beckons him into the booth and says. “Alright everyone, I don’t know if you’ve been introduced to our new intern down at the station. He’s a bit of a brat but he’s got a great head of hair, so we put up with him.” Harry blushes wildly and runs a hand through his hair, sitting down on the other side of the control board. “This is Harry and he’s going to be looking after you guys for the next few songs.”

 

“Hi Li!” Harry says happily, pulling the big headphones onto his head. “And hey everyone else. I’m Harry and this old grump has finally let me get on air for a minute to play you guys some of my favourite stuff.”

 

He grins across the panel at Liam and he rolls his eyes. “Yeah alright,” he says with a smile. “Call the guy who’s generously let you on air a grump, that’s a good way to make sure it never happens again Styles.”

 

Harry laughs and slips a CD into the player. Liam’s got a feeling that Harry’s been let on air already considering he already knows how to do all this stuff. It was probably Ed who had him on. He’s got a bit of a soft spot for Harry if the way he yabbers on about him all the time is anything to go by. And Liam thinks it probably is to be honest.

 

“Sorry Li,” Harry says and he offers him a sheepish smile. It suits him. “Anyway, this first song is a cover of _Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)_ by Emily Browning.” Liam cocks an eyebrow and Harry gives him a pointed look that clearly says _trust me_. “I don’t think Liam’s heard it, but he should listen closely because it’s dedicated to him.” He flicks the song on before Liam can protest and Harry at least looks a little ashamed.

 

“Are you mental?” Liam asks and Harry raises a finger to his lips.

 

“Shut up and listen,” Harry says and Liam does. He knows the song of course, has heard the original by Eurythmics hundreds of times over the years and he liked the song before, but the female vocalist’s voice pounding through the speakers in the studio makes the whole thing seem a lot more…charged. The song is blatantly sexual and Liam shudders and tries not to look at Harry. He can almost feel Harry’s smug grin burning into him from across the control desk and he feels like a complete tool – he knows he’s blushing too and that makes it a thousand times worse.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Liam says when the song breaks for an instrumental and Harry shushes him, waving him off. “Seriously Harry, don’t be stupid, it’s embarrassing on air, okay?”

 

The younger boy mouths _sorry_ in his direction and mimes zipping his lips and Liam shuts up and tries not to shrivel up and die from the humiliation of Harry sitting opposite him, basically serenading him through another person’s song.

 

“Okay, I hope you all liked that,” Harry says when the song comes to a dramatic finish. “I know Liam certainly liked it if the boner he’s sporting is anything to go by.” Liam squawks and frantically covers his lap, looking down to make sure Harry is only kidding and the younger man cracks up laughing, his cackle filling the studio. “Made you look you filthy bugger!” he says and Liam frowns at him.

 

“Last chance Harry,” Liam warns and he doesn’t even care that he’s on air.

 

“Alright, alright, don’t get your knickers in a twist,” Harry says. It’s frustrating because Liam knows that listeners go mad for this kind of repartee between hosts. Ed’s asked him heaps of times if the two of them can pair up and host together, but he’s never found someone who he’ll agree with in terms of music taste. And he agrees with Harry on basically every song he’s heard him singing in the past few weeks. And if Harry’s praise about his line ups at the end up his shift everyday are anything to go by, Harry feels the same way about Liam’s taste. “This next one is _Get Some_ by Lykke Li. Hope you all enjoy!”

 

“You’re kind of a piece of shit, you know that right?” Liam asks as soon as the song starts and Harry laughs.

 

“Whatever, I bet the listeners are grateful for a bit of banter,” he says and he’s smiling. 

 

“Now shut up and listen because this one’s for you too.” Liam gapes at him and Harry rolls his eyes. “Just be grateful I didn’t say it on air, okay?”

 

This is a song Liam’s heard before as well, but it’s got a whole new meaning when Harry’s sitting across the room and he jerks his foot away when Harry’s socked toes brush against his ankle. Harry’s made a habit of kicking his shoes off when he arrives at the studio everyday – has really made himself at home. And everyone loves him, so they don’t care anymore. Harry’s been a hit at the station actually and Liam wishes he could be mad about it, but he actually really likes having him around. Harry looks a little bit hurt when Liam moves away and averts his eyes, but he schools his features quickly enough and Liam almost doesn’t notice. He kind of wishes he hadn’t noticed at all.

 

The song finishes and Harry takes a breath and faces the microphone. “Great song, that,” he says. “Wouldn’t you agree Liam?” Liam jumps and clears his throat, glaring at Harry.

 

“Yeah, it’s great,” he says gruffly into the mic and Harry tries to smile at him, but it looks a bit funny. Liam thinks he’s nervous which is _good_ because he’s going to kill him as soon as his shift is over.

 

“It’s been great chatting to you for this short amount of time. I would stick around, but I reckon Liam’s going to kill me for this one. So final song - _Somebody Told Me to Feel Good_ which is a mix of the Killers versus The Gorillaz and in case you hadn’t guessed, it’s for Liam. See you in a bit!” Harry says and then he flicks the song on and flees.

 

Liam jumps up out of his chair and tries to catch Harry before the door shuts behind him but he just ends up slamming his own fingers in the door and he yelps, jumping backwards and sucking his fingers into his mouth, cradling his hand up by his face. Harry waves at him gleefully from the other side of the glass and Liam makes a face at him. He can’t even concentrate on the mix that is so obviously about sex when Harry is puffing out his cheeks and pulling his ears out to make a monkey face right back at Liam. It just looks disgustingly endearing on him and Liam can’t really be thinking about fucking him into the mattress and tucking him into bed with a warm cup of milk at the same time, can he?

 

“I’m so sorry about my dumbass of an intern,” Liam says as soon as the song finishes. “He’s getting a warning as soon as my shift is over and in case anyone was wondering, he’s butt ugly.” Harry makes an offended face through the glass and Liam smirks at him. It’s a bit of an empty criticism really because he’s pretty sure Harry knows he’s devastatingly attractive. Liam’s feeling a bit flustered and he sighs. “I’m just going to play the next song, okay.”

 

He doesn’t realise until the song has started that the next song on his list is _Undisclosed Desires_ by Muse and he groans and sinks into his seat, trying not to look at the window where Harry is holding up a sign and has he really not managed to let go of that habit yet?

 

_real subtle Payne_

 

Liam sighs and tries not to die from embarrassment.

 

\---

 

Louis is preening in the bathroom when Liam gets home and that’s a bad sign if Liam’s ever seen one. Louis only preens when he’s going on a date or going clubbing and considering he hasn’t been whining to Liam for days about what to wear on his date coming up, Liam’s willing to hedge a bet that he’s planning on going out tonight.

 

“Where are you off to then?” he asks, dropping his bag on the couch before stepping towards the bathroom and leaning against the doorway. Louis is trying to use a whole can of hairspray to get his quiff to stay up. “Isn’t that a bit useless when you’re going to have that snarky guy’s hands all through your hair while you suck his dick in a bathroom later?” Liam asks and Louis sighs dramatically.

 

“For your information, I’m not planning on meeting the insufferable Grimshaw tonight.” He meets Liam’s eyes in the mirror. “And _we_ are going out with Zayn, Harry and Niall.”

 

“Is this going to become a regular thing?” Liam asks, but he already knows the answer because he’s come home to Niall and Zayn in his place at least three times in the last two weeks and the transition of becoming friends with the three of them is moving along pretty quickly.

 

Louis frowns. “Of course it is. They’re great lads. Now go get dressed we’re leaving as soon as I’m done with my hair.”

 

“So in about three hours?” Liam asks and Louis chucks the mostly empty can of hairspray at Liam before reaching for a fresh one in the cupboard. “But seriously Lou, I’m not coming.”

 

Louis’ face immediately falls and he gets his puppy dog eyes out and Liam literally _always_ falls for that face. It’s unfair really. “Why, Liam?” Louis whines and Liam is already halfway to his room to get changed.

 

“I’ll tell you about how much I embarrassed myself in front of Harry today when I stop wallowing in humiliation. That’ll probably take me a few years, so don’t hold your breath.”

 

Louis is out of the bathroom and perched on the end of Liam’s bed when Liam turns around from rummaging in his closet for a shirt. It’s nice, if not unexpected, that Louis thinks Liam’s misery is more important than his hair. His face looks all sympathetic and Liam smiles because Louis is the greatest friend ever when it comes down to it and he’s willing to drop pretty much anything when Liam is upset. “You sure you don’t want to talk?” Louis asks sincerely. “We don’t have to go out with them. We could order in instead and spend the rest of our lives getting fat while screaming at the characters on trash TV?”

 

Liam laughs and shrugs. “It’s fine Lou,” he says. “I’m alright and I don’t really want to talk about it. I’m making it a whole lot worse than it is and it’ll probably be more awkward if I try to avoid Harry. Let’s just go out.”

 

Louis grins wickedly and Liam gets worried. “We can get you super pissed to forget about your problems!” Louis shouts like it’s the greatest idea in the entire universe.

 

Liam groans and shakes his head. “I don’t know if that’s the best idea,” he says. “I might end up saying something stupid.”

 

Louis laughs and tugs on Liam’s hair, which is getting long enough now to curl around his ears a bit. He really needs to get it cut. “Don’t be silly Liam, everyone loves it when people say dumb things when they’re drunk. That’s the beauty of it all! Besides, we’ll all be off our faces too, so no one will remember it in the morning.” He rolls his eyes. “Honestly, you act like it’s a bloody sin. Remember when Jesus invited his mates around to get pissed the night before he went and got himself crossified or whatever the hell the bible says? That’s pretty much God’s way of telling us that getting drunk is the best way to get over your problems.”

 

“It’s _cruci_ fied and I’m pretty sure there’s something intrinsically wrong with saying ‘whatever the hell the bible says’ Lou,” Liam says, but he’s grinning because Louis never makes any sense and it’s actually pretty brilliant when Liam just wants to get a little mental.

 

“So you’ll come?” Louis asks, but he knows he’s already won and Liam doesn’t even bother acting like he’s going to think about it for a while. He’s shimmying out of his blue jeans and pulling on a pair that are black. Liam likes jeans.

 

“Yeah, I’ll come.”

 

\---

 

When they get to the club, Liam spots Harry and Niall by the bar almost immediately. Harry is off to the side a bit and he’s looking at Niall with an amused expression on his face as he tries to chat up some dark, leggy girl who’s standing next to him. From what Liam can see, she seems to be laughing at his jokes, unless she’s just laughing at _him_. That would be kind of pitiful. Then again, he doesn’t think Niall would really mind if she were laughing at him as long as he got to take her home.

 

“Hey lads!” Louis crows when he drags Liam over there. Harry grins at the two of them and Niall waves over his shoulder before turning his attention back to the girl he’s talking to.

 

“I’ve turned into a bit of a fifth wheel,” Harry admits, grimacing as he points to the corner of the club where there’s a whole bunch of tables. Zayn is sitting impossibly close to a blonde girl at one of the tables and his hand is creeping up her thigh. She keeps shoving it back every few minutes, but it’s half hearted and she doesn’t seem to mind that much.

 

“Is that Perrie?” Louis asks excitedly and Harry smiles and nods.

 

“Looks like those cookies worked Li,” he says and Liam is a bit surprised that Harry remembered that to be honest because the whole icing incident happened over a month ago and Liam had almost forgotten about it.

 

Louis is practically jumping out of his skin in glee and he can barely tear his eyes away from Zayn and his girl for long enough to order some drinks. “Liam’s getting drunk tonight,” he says to Harry happily and Harry looks over Louis’ head at Liam, an eyebrow cocked in question. Everyone knows that Liam isn’t a big drinker and Harry looks a little bit worried about him. “We’re all going to be smashed and it’s great!” Louis says and Harry snaps his head towards Louis to grin.

 

“How come Liam’s getting drunk?” he asks and Louis shrugs and avoids his eyes, turning to the bartender instead and ordering a few shots for them. Liam has a feeling that Harry probably knows why Liam’s getting drunk, but he’s not about to confirm it and he’s thanking whatever higher power there is that stopped Louis from blurting it out too. Harry turns to look at Liam and his forehead is creased with concern. Liam hates it and wishes Harry would just smile and agree to act like today never even happened because he’s still a bit embarrassed by it. Instead, Harry has to act like he actually cares and he smells like flowers and looks like the fittest person in the room by far and it’s not fair that he’s looking at _Liam_ like he actually gives a toss about him. It’s confusing and instead of asking himself why he’s doing it, Liam reaches around Louis and snatches a shot of the bar, downing it before anyone has a chance to stop him.

 

“You bastard!” Louis yells over the loud music. “You nicked the best shot!” Liam grins and shrugs and Louis ruffles his hair. “We’ll make a hooligan of you yet Liam,” he says with a laugh and passes him the next shot.

 

Liam’s on his third or fourth drink and he’s feeling a light buzzing over all of his skin like he’s a little bit more alive. He doesn’t get drunk very often, but when he does, he always feels like he’s coming to life. He hasn’t seen Harry touch a single drink since he took his first shot, but he’s too loose to care about that and instead, he’s letting his eyes roam up and down the bar, taking in the flashing colours of the club and the grinding people on the dance floor. Zayn’s bird Perrie has given up trying to stop Zayn’s hand from creeping up her leg and they’re making out properly now, completely unaware of the hundreds of people in the club around them. Niall and the girl he was chatting up earlier have disappeared into the writhing mass of bodies and Liam is keen to join them, but he’s kind of enjoying just observing. He can feel Harry at his elbow, having not left his side since he took his first drink and he’s refusing to look at him.

 

“You feeling alright Liam?” Harry asks and Liam nods without looking away from the dance floor. He sees Louis emerge from the throng and make his way towards them.

 

“You’ll never guess who’s just arrived,” he says dryly and Harry indulges him, asking who it is. “Fucking Grimshaw that’s who,” Louis complains and Liam looks up to see Harry’s face settle into one of surprise.

 

“As in Nick?” he asks and Louis turns to him.

 

“You know Grimmy?”

 

Harry nods, smiling. “Yeah, he’s a mate of mine. You guys know each other obviously,” he says cautiously and Louis’ scowl returns to his face immediately.

 

“Yeah well if you count having had each other’s dicks in our mouths then yeah, I know him pretty well actually. Bit of an insufferable prat isn’t he?” Liam groans because Louis’ given out too much information for about the millionth time in his life, but Harry just laughs and pats Louis’ back consolingly. Liam’s never met Grimmy, but he hears Louis complain about him all the time. And if he’s man enough to tell Louis to shut up when he’s going on about something, then Liam figures he’s probably an alright guy. Besides, he’s friends with Harry too and wow, okay, when did that become something that helped Liam judge someone?

 

“I think I’m going to go dance,” he says quickly, grabbing his unfinished drink off the bar and downing it before hopping off the barstool. He sways a little bit when he lands and the room spins in front of him because he feels drunker now that he’s standing up and he feels kind of stupid for not realising that this would happen. But he’s determined not to let it show, so he shrugs off the concerned hand on his shoulder (that he suspects is Harry’s considering it’s huge and Lou’s got these midget hands that are cute and all, but hardly comforting) and makes his way towards the middle of the room where there’s some sort of dance floor.

 

It’s humid once Liam gets through the first layer of people and he feels a drop of sweat travel down the back of his neck. Someone elbows him in the ribs and he winces and wriggles further into the crowd. He finds himself trapped between two people and he can barely move so he closes his eyes and throws his hands up and focuses on trying not to fall over.

 

It’s not too bad when Liam starts to feel the bass jumping through his blood like a pulse and the music is pretty shit, but he’s too far gone to care. And when a skinny girl wraps her arms around his waist and presses her hips into his he lets her, even clasps his hands onto her hips to guide her because it’s all just a bit of fun really. It’s not like he’s going to take her home – clearly she’s got the wrong anatomy for that – and he just wants to dance and forget about the boy sitting at the bar with limbs like a stick insect that he’d really like wrapped around his body. But he’s not thinking about that.

 

He dances with the same leggy girl for three songs and he’s pretty proud that he only starts to feel sick when her hands snake their way inside his shirt and cling to his back. He can feel her nails scratching at his skin a little bit and it makes him feel all prickly and ill. He doesn’t even bother murmuring an excuse to her as he wrenches himself away and fights his way through the crowd.

 

There’s a tight grip on his elbow as soon as he escapes the mass of moving bodies and when he looks up it’s Harry right there by his side. “Are you okay?” he asks and Liam feels a swooping in his gut.

 

“I’m gonna be sick,” he says and Harry chuckles, guiding him through the club with a hand on the small of his back.

 

“Let’s try and make it outside before that happens, yeah?”

 

Liam throws up on his own shoes and the fence just down the street from the club. Harry’s hand is rubbing comforting circles on his back and it makes him feel a lot better than he’d care to admit. He feels wretched and his mouth tastes foul, but Harry is there and he’s going to take care of him. Liam’s drunk, but he thinks that as long as he knows that much, he’s going to be okay. “Thanks,” he croaks weakly when he finally stands up and wipes his mouth off on his sleeve. That’s probably gross, but he’s past the point of caring and Harry doesn’t seem to mind.

 

“You want to head home?” Harry asks and Liam nods, smiling at him. He feels sleepy all of a sudden and Harry wraps an arm around him. He’s warm and his shoulder is comfortable and Liam never wants to step away from where he’s plastered to his side.  
As the two of them bundle into a cab together, Liam leans his head on Harry’s shoulder and closes his eyes. If he thinks really hard about it, he thinks he feels Harry press a kiss to the top of his head, but he can’t really be sure. He doesn’t actually care either way as long as he never has to move.

 

\---

 

It smells like bacon and roses when Liam wakes up and his mouth tastes like he barfed up a can of garbage. He’s got what feels like a spring poking into his back so he figures he’s not in his own bed and he thinks if the smell is anything to go by, he’s just slept on Harry’s couch for the night. He takes a second to absorb what he can about the apartment before Harry realises he’s awake. From the couch, he can see the door to the kitchen and the bathroom and Harry’s in the kitchen humming while he cooks (presumably bacon) and Liam’s stomach turns. He feels bloody awful and he lets out a groan that has Harry poking his head out of the kitchen grinning.

 

“You alright Li?” he asks and Liam shakes his head miserably.

 

“You’re a wanker for cooking,” he grumbles and he crawls towards the bathroom as Harry lets out a cackle and disappears back into the kitchen to flip the bacon in the pan.

 

Liam doesn’t end up throwing up, but he feels pretty gross from having his face pressed to the toilet bowl for a good ten minutes and he thinks he’s really in need of a shower, but he settles for washing his mouth out with an almost full bottle of Listerine that’s sitting on the edge of the sink. “You want breakfast?” Harry calls out and Liam feels his tummy go all mangled again and he scowls at his reflection.

 

“No thanks!” he yells back and convinces himself to go join Harry in the apartment. He’s sitting on the couch hoeing into bacon and eggs. The yolk of the egg is a bit runny, which is usually just how Liam likes it, but he’s hung over and it looks foul. He’s pretty sure all food has the potential to look foul when he feels like he’s going to hurl his stomach out of his throat at any second. “You want to tell me what exactly happened last night?” Liam asks and really he just wants to know that everyone got home safely.

 

Harry shrugs and smiles. “Zayn took Perrie home and Niall went home with that girl he was talking to at the bar.” He smirks at Liam and Liam laughs because Niall’s going to be bragging about that for weeks. “Louis and Grimmy disappeared a few minutes before I took you outside, so I figure they made their way home together too.”

 

“Excellent, that’ll give Louis something to complain about for a week,” Liam says and Harry grins at him.

 

“You pretty much collapsed on the couch as soon as we got through the door by the way,” he says. “No funny business I assure you.”

 

Liam blushes and bites his lip. “No, I mean – not that there would be…any…funny business.” He sighs and buries his head in his hands and he can feel Harry looking at him but there is no way that he’s going to acknowledge that.

 

“Yeah,” Harry says slowly and if he sounds a little disappointed, well, it’s probably only because Liam’s gone and made it awkward like he manages to do every single time. When he looks up, Harry’s got his bottom lip caught between his teeth and he’s worrying it a bit. Liam is overcome with the want to run his tongue along it, maybe slide his fingers into Harry’s sleep mussed hair and tug on it a bit. He feels his headache pulse in his temple and sighs, pushing any indecent thoughts about Harry out of his head.

 

“Can I maybe grab some water?” he asks and Harry nods.

 

“Yeah just help yourself to a glass, they’re in the cupboard over the sink.”

 

Liam stays in the kitchen for way longer than it takes to fix a glass of water and he leans his forehead against the fridge and tries to figure out why exactly he’s so attracted to Harry when he knows that nothing is ever going to come of it. Harry is special and special people don’t want people like Liam. It’s just the way it works and he’s getting more and more frustrated with the way Harry keeps coming on to him because seriously, it’s not like Liam doesn’t like him already and he doesn’t _need_ to flirt with Liam and be nice to him because Liam’s already sold on helping him make a record. He’d probably be sold if Harry were a complete jerk to be honest because there’s just something about him that makes it impossible to look away when he sings.

 

“Why does your apartment smell like flowers?” he asks when he finally reappears and Harry looks up from his breakfast, holding up a finger and swallowing before opening his mouth to answer.

 

“I live above a florist,” he says. “They’ve got the shop downstairs and they rent out the one bedroom apartment up here. My mum’s friends with her or something so she managed to get me a pretty good deal on the place and I figured smelling like a flowery girl all the time is a small price to pay.”

 

Liam smiles and sits back down next to him and they’re quiet for a few minutes while Harry’s knife and fork click against his plate. “I quite like it actually,” Liam says eventually and Harry turns to look at him.

 

“What’s that?” he asks and Liam shrugs, a bit embarrassed.

 

“How you always smell like flowers. It’s a change from Lou who always smells like shit.”

 

Harry laughs at that and the tension dissipates. “It’s a hard life Liam,” he says and Liam grins. Harry grins back with that stupid wide smile that stretches right across his face and makes Liam feel like he’s dying a bit inside and then his hand is on Liam’s knee and he’s leaning in a bit and Liam knows where this is going. But he’s not meant to give in to Harry – he’s been trying to maintain the professional relationship with him for weeks now and he’s not about to kiss him and ruin it and make Harry think he’s only helping him out because he wants in his pants and most of all, he doesn’t want Harry to think he can get away with that kind of thing. So he stands up quickly and brushes himself down and tries to ignore the way Harry withdraws his hand as though Liam’s burned him and won’t look up from his empty plate where it’s sitting on his knees.

 

“I think I’m going to head off,” Liam says and Harry sighs.

 

“You all good to see yourself out?” he asks and when he looks up, his eyes are all _sad_ and Liam can’t handle that so he just nods and makes his way towards the door. He doesn’t look back when he closes it behind him.

 

\---

 

It’s a little awkward at the station on Monday and Liam puts it down to Harry being so bloody chipper when Liam’s in such a foul mood. He’s in the staff lounge when Liam gets there and he offers him a huge coffee and it doesn’t even have any weird syrups in it to make it taste like arse. Liam is scarily disappointed that it doesn’t, which is stupid because he spent the whole time Harry was giving him weird coffees complaining about it. But he smiles at Liam softly like he wants approval when he passes over the normal coffee and Liam can’t help but smile back.

 

“I was mucking around in the studio earlier,” he says. “And I reckon I’ve got a few songs I could have a go at recording.” He looks so proud and it makes Liam’s heart swell.

 

“Sounds great Harry,” he says and Harry’s smile widens. “You should ask Ed to help you with the levels so you can have a go at recording them.”

 

Harry bites his lip for a sec and scrambles up from the couch to follow Liam down the hall where he’s headed to the radio booth. “You don’t want to hear them first?” he asks and Liam shrugs. “I mean, there’s some I think you’d like.” When Liam turns around to roll his eyes at him he’s smiling in a way that’s both endearing and sexual and how is that even possible?

 

“I’m sure I’ll like them just as much when I hear them played back to me, don’t you?” Liam asks and Harry’s smile falls.

 

“Yeah, I guess,” he mumbles and Liam feels like he’s kicked a puppy or a baby panda or something else with huge eyes that are looking at him like he just ruined their day. And he’d been doing _so well_ at keeping Harry at a distance until Friday night and he wishes more than anything that he’d never agreed to go out with Louis and had never downed that first shot and most of all, that he’d never let Harry take him home and try to kiss him the next day.

 

“Sorry Harry, I just don’t know if it’s a good idea for you to sing to me,” Liam says and he doesn’t give Harry a chance to ask why, closes the door to the studio behind him and waves at Ed as he flicks on his last song.

 

“Y’alright Liam?” he asks and Liam shrugs.

 

“Same old. Don’t let Harry come in here, yeah?” he says and Ed frowns, rubbing a hand through his tangle of red hair.

 

“You guys okay?” he asks and Liam thinks he’s just asked the most loaded question be possible could have.

 

He laughs and slides in behind the control panel, sliding around a few of the knobs to get them set up to how he likes them when he’s talking. “It’s alright, just a bit awkward.”

 

“What did you guys fuck or what?” Ed asks and Liam chokes on his breath, shaking his head quickly and glaring at Ed.

 

“Why would you even jump to that conclusion?” he demands and Ed shrugs.

 

“Sexual tension.”

 

Liam is outraged and he shoos Ed out of the booth without saying anything. The only tension between he and Harry is the fact that Liam wants Harry to stop mucking around with him and just get on with recording so he can piss off out of the studio and stop acting like he’s got a thing for Liam. The tension is there because Liam’s _annoyed_ , not turned on. And okay, maybe Harry’s husky voice does it for Liam a bit, but it’s not like that is noticeable. He sighs and runs his hands through his hair, letting his elbows rest on the desk and breathing deeply in an attempt to calm himself down. He’s going to have to figure out a way to deal with Harry properly considering he see’s him everyday. He can’t very well ignore him for a month while Harry figures out all his recording business and then fucks off. But he realises that Ed’s song has finished playing and there’s been about thirty seconds of silence and Liam snaps out of his own little world and sits up straight.

 

“Sorry about that,” he mumbles. “Bit of a technical difficulty, but it’s all sorted and I’m going to play a song for you now. This is _Les Enfants_ by Celeste.”

 

\---

 

Zayn is in their flat when Liam gets in a few days later. He stayed late at the studio to help one of the new guys filling in after him. His manager usually gets him to help out the people who have no idea what they’re doing because he’s patient and he’s pretty good at explaining how to use all of the equipment. He doesn’t get paid for it though and it’s usually gruelling and leaves him with a thumping headache. Harry was gone by the time he left the studio and even the coffee shop was done being packed up when he walked past it on the way home.

 

“Lou?” he calls into the flat. “I need a massage or a coffee or my bed.”

 

Zayn lifts his head up over the top of the couch and grins at Liam. “Moping?” he asks and Liam sighs, dropping his bag and collapsing onto the ratty old rug in front of the TV. There’s a bit of food on the floor right by his face and he scrunches up his nose and rolls over to face Zayn.

 

“Where’s Lou?” he asks and Zayn lets his head flop back onto the armrest.

 

“He’s moping over lost love too,” he says.

 

Louis pokes his head out from in the kitchen so he can squawk indignantly and correct Zayn. 

 

“I am _not_ moping over lost love!” he yells. “I don’t love that stupid twat and I never will. I’m just pissed off because I practically gave him the best blowjob ever, I mean - I’m fucking good at it, and all he wanted was to cuddle afterwards. It’s like he knows nothing about sex etiquette. He’s meant to fucking return the favour.”

 

Liam giggles and pats the ground next to him for Louis to come and sit. He comes into the lounge room bearing three cups of tea and passes one to each of them. Liam finds himself wishing for Harry’s unusual coffee and hates himself for it really.

 

Things have been getting progressively less and less awkward as the week has gone by and he can even look at Harry now without immediately thinking of the look on his face when he rejected his kiss. It’s not something he likes to think about and he’s glad that the two of them are going back to normal, even if Harry hasn’t seemed to have taken the hint and is still flirting with Liam relentlessly.

 

“You know, I think you’ve described at least three occurrences where Grimmy’s given you head and you’ve not sucked his dick back, so I don’t know if you’ve got much to complain about,” Liam reasons and Louis sighs dramatically, waving his hand in Liam’s direction as though to say that he doesn’t understand.

 

“There’s always something to complain about Li,” Zayn says and Liam laughs.

 

“I’ve got nothing to complain about,” he says.

 

Zayn rolls his eyes and turns to face Liam where he’s lying. “Other than the whopping crush you’ve got on one of my best friends, right?” he says with a smirk and Liam glares at him, but he can feel a blush heating his cheeks. “All this acting like you’ve got no idea what I’m talking about is getting a bit old mate.”

 

“I’ve not got a crush on Harry,” Liam says and then he sighs. “And even if I did, it wouldn’t matter because Harry’s only hanging out with me so he can record his music. He’ll just bugger off to another company as soon as he gets a name for himself.”

 

Louis offers Liam a consoling pat on the arm. “He’s been burned before,” he explains to Zayn and Liam tries not to scowl at Louis because he’s only trying to help. It’s not like Liam’s had his heart broken before, but it’s infinitely frustrating when artists move on to better companies and they never get to keep them. It makes his job a whole lot less rewarding and Harry’s a _friend_. He doesn’t want to know what it’ll feel like when one of his friends ditches him in favour of their career to be honest, and it’ll be a whole lot worse if he lets himself fall in actual love with Harry. And he really hates it when he lets his thoughts go like this because love is exactly the kind of thing that he _doesn’t_ want to be talking about it.

 

“Can we not talk about this?” Liam says and he sits up, leaning his back against the couch and reaching for the remote that’s resting by Zayn’s feet.

 

“I’m pretty sure he likes you back you know,” Zayn says and Liam rolls his eyes.

 

“Yeah and I’m pretty sure I declared this conversation over,” Liam snaps and he feels a little bad for getting angry at Zayn because he’s only trying to help. “Besides,” he says quietly. 

 

“He’s just being nice to me because he thinks he has to. Harry’s…he’s _Harry_. He could get any guy he wants and he knows it. Flirting gets him what he wants and I get that, but I’m not going to be another one of the suckers who falls for him and gets their heart broken because he didn’t really feel anything back, yeah?”

 

Zayn raises an eyebrow at him and looks like he’s about to argue, but he catches Louis’ eye over Liam’s head and Louis must mouth something to him or shake his head because his shoulders sag and he gets all frowny and snatches the remote from Liam to turn the volume up on the TV. Louis sits up too and snuggles into Liam’s side, resting his head against his shoulder.

 

“Don’t worry too much Li,” he says. “We can be lovers scorned together.” He thinks he’s pretty funny and ends up giggling into Liam’s shoulder for about thirty seconds before he realises Liam isn’t laughing too and digging his fingers into Liam’s sides until he joins in.  
Zayn must feel left out because he joins the scuffle after a few minutes and when they get tired of tickling each other they fall asleep in a messy sprawl of limbs and Liam feels pretty good about himself when he’s got friends like this.

 

\---

 

Harry doesn’t usually stick around after four on a weekday and Liam’s shift finishes at five, so he’s used to just handing over to Tom and walking out of a pretty much empty building at the end of the day. But after his shift on Friday, Harry is waiting by the main doors, his bag slung over one shoulder like he’s been ready for a while. He’s not looking at Liam and its getting late and the light is all silvery outside the glass door behind him and it’s bathing his face in this soft light that makes him look bloody amazing. He clears his throat and Harry turns and smiles at him. “Hey!” he says cheerily, pushing himself off the wall.

 

“What are you still doing here?” Liam asks, sliding the door open and stepping outside into the cold evening air.

 

“Waiting for you of course,” Harry says with a grin. “You want to grab coffee?”

 

“Like a date?” Liam asks cautiously and Harry looks a little shocked.

 

He quickly masks his surprise with a smirk and says, “If you want it to be – I mean, yeah, whatever…babe.” And it sounds so stupid and…not suave that Liam cracks up and shakes his head.

 

“In your dreams Styles.” He beckons him out of the studio, locking the door behind him and slings his arm over Harry’s shoulders. “Wanna just go to Lou and Zayn’s?” he asks and he means the coffee shop, so Harry nods and when Liam looks over at him he looks a little confused, like he can’t quite figure out what Liam is doing, but that’s okay, because Liam never has any clue what the hell Harry is doing so it’s nice to have the tables turned for once.

 

The shop is getting ready for closing when they get there and Louis has misplaced the sign again, so there’s a hand drawn one blue tacked to the glass door.

 

_bugger off if you don’t want to be slayn by the mighty malik dragon and pelted with his shit !!!_

 

“Charming,” Liam says and Harry cracks up before pushing the door and holding it open for Liam to step inside. As soon as the bell above the door rings, Liam hears a clatter in the kitchen and then Louis is yelling.

 

“Quick Zayn, get the dung! Some bell end has come in and – oh it’s just you two,” he says when he finally gets around the corner and Zayn is giggling like mad when he pops up from behind the counter where he’s been stacking plates. “I thought you were a public enemy,” Louis says and he actually looks disappointed that they’re not. “How was work?”

 

“Yeah great,” Harry says, jumping in. “I’m almost ready to start recording. Reckon I might do it next weekend if any of you guys want to tag along.” He says it confidently, but Liam can hear the question in his voice like he’s nervous that no one actually cares, but a huge smile lights up Louis’ face and he starts nodding.

 

“Yeah sure mate, I’d love to hear it. Might be a bit late because I promised my mum I’d help out with the girls, but I’ll be around towards the end of the day on Saturday if you’re still at it.”

 

Harry looks straight to Zayn, but Zayn’s shaking his head. “Got Niall’s soccer final,” Zayn says. “We organised it with Perrie and Leigh Anne about a week ago, sorry bro.”  
Harry shrugs and looks at Liam who can feel himself nodding before he’s even thought about what he’s doing next weekend – like he doesn’t even have a choice but to agree and to go listen to Harry sing and record and seduce him with his fantastic voice, because that’s what’s bound to happen really. But of _course_ he’ll go, because even if Harry is only messing around with him when it comes to the flirting and the innuendo, he’s still a friend. Liam figures that he gets that funny feeling in his chest that seems to be becoming a regular thing whenever he hears Harry singing, they can just label him as a masochist and move on. It’s pretty simple.

 

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” he says quietly and the grin that lights up Harry’s face makes the whole few months of painfully trying to resist his charms worth it. He looks like he’s completely come to life and Liam sees Louis and Zayn exchange a look in the back of the café when they think no one is looking, but Liam sends daggers in their direction that he’s pretty sure go unnoticed.

 

“Great!” Harry says and he claps his hands together happily just as the door swings open again and Louis is about to start yelling about shit or something else disgusting until he sees it’s just Niall.

 

“Lads,” he says happily as he pulls off his beanie and tucks it into his bag. Zayn cheers and launches himself across the room into Niall’s arms and the two of them do some sort of weird hakka dance while they’re still hugging each other. Liam doesn’t even _want_ to know the intricacies of their friendship.

 

“That is not half as weird as the shit they get up to when they’re at home,” Harry murmurs like he knows exactly what Liam is thinking, which is freaky. Louis looks a bit put out that he’s not included in anything so he settles for making a whole heap of noise by dropping a plate on the floor and Zayn pulls back from his hug with Niall and groans when it smashes to pieces.

 

“Are you fucking kidding Lou?” he asks and Louis winks at him with a grin on his face.

 

“We gotta finish cleaning up,” he says. “Then we can go back to mine and Li’s and get drunk and watch action movies or give each other hand jobs or something.”

 

“You know you’re a fuckin’ weirdo, right?” Niall says and Louis bares his teeth at him and growls.

 

“All part of the illusion,” he says and Zayn and Niall share a look that clearly says they’ve got as little idea as each other what the hell Louis is on about.

 

\---

 

The following weekend comes way too quickly for Liam’s liking and he’s in a bad mood when he gets to the studio because Louis let his little sisters be in charge of waking him up and he’d ended up crushed under a pile of gangly limbs and a sticky palm squished into his cheek that none of them were willing to own up to.

 

He arrives at the same time as Harry, who gives him a sympathetic look. “Rough night?” he asks and Liam sighs.

 

“Rough morning more like. You’ve never had the pleasure of meeting the Tomlinson sisters I assume?”

 

Harry giggles and if it weren’t the cutest thing Liam had ever heard, he’d probably find it annoying that a grown man’s giggle could make his stomach flip. “Haven’t had the pleasure yet, no,” Harry says and he picks his guitar up off the floor where he put it to get his keys out and he tries to bustle through the door with his huge case as well as holding it open for Liam and he ends up tripping and hopping on one leg halfway into the foyer and Liam is gaping so much that he doesn’t even think to stop the door from closing back in his face. Liam shoos Harry down the hall and towards the studio so that he can have a bit of space in the lounge to make himself a cup of tea. He definitely needs caffeine if he’s going to make it through the day without slamming his head against a wall and he ends up putting two teabags into the cup to try and leech as much energy from it as he possibly can. He contemplates making Harry a cuppa too, but decides that that would be giving in and he’s not going to do that, so when he finally makes it down into the studio, he’s only got one mug, but Harry smiles at him like he’s just brought the world into the room for him.

 

There’s a lot more people in there than there should be and Liam’s not surprised because Harry is easy to love and he’s probably asked the whole city to come down to watch him record. Liam recognises a few people from the station, including his boss (of course Harry’s managed to sweet talk him into tagging along) and there’s this drummer there, Josh, who helped out on a few albums that they’ve put together here, so someone’s probably called him in as a favour to Harry. A few of them wave to Liam when he walks in, but no one swings their arm through the air like a flailing monkey like Harry does.

 

“Liam, I need advice,” he shouts quickly, and he jumps over a pile of chords that lead to various amps and microphones and pedals and funny things that Liam really doesn’t know that much about, so why is Harry asking him?

 

“Don’t know how much I can assist, but sure,” Liam says, setting his mug down on a speaker and following Harry over to the main microphone where he’s got a bunch of music spread out on a couple of stands.

 

“Okay, so I know I should have all this figured out already and stuff like that, but I can’t choose between these two sounds for this song.” He points to the sheets of paper in front of him with a sigh and Liam literally couldn’t read his messy scrawl of lyrics if he tried to, but that isn’t really the problem. Harry hums a note and grabs his guitar, plugging it into the amp with a screech and slinging it round his neck. “Okay, have a listen with this pedal,” he says and strums a couple of chords, singing quietly under his breath.

 

The sound is a bit tinny and it’s okay – sounds good and all, but Liam’s not quite sure that it suits the song and the deep notes that Harry’s singing. “Yeah,” Liam says. “What’s the other option?”

 

Harry grins at him like he already knows that Liam doesn’t like the first sound and he rips out the amp and shoves in another plug with another loud screech that has Mike, the tech guy, yelling at him to take it easy. He scrunches up his nose when he shouts back an apology, like he’s actually mad at himself for upsetting someone and it’s all a bit too much for Liam to handle. “Uh, this ones a bit more grainy,” Harry says and he starts to strum again, singing the same part of the song.

 

It’s better than the last sound, sure, but it’s still not quite right and Liam can’t quite put his finger on it. Harry stops with a sigh when he sees Liam’s frown and sets his guitar back on the ground. “Um – ”

 

Harry cuts him off. “Do you _see_ my problem,” he says and he sounds all frustrated and he’s got this fantastic crease between his eyebrows that Liam wants to smooth out with a kiss, but there’s a whole heap of people around and he’s lasted this long, he’ll be damned if he can’t last a little bit longer without giving in.

 

“They both sound nice,” Liam starts and Harry lets out an impatient groan.

 

“I don’t want _nice_. I want it to sound awesome! It’s going to be the most important song on the record.” He sighs. “I don’t want to take it out on you, I’m sorry. I just really want this song to be perfect so I’m putting all this pressure on it and it’s driving me mental.”

 

Liam runs a hand through his hair and picks the guitar back up, handing it to Harry with a smile. “Why don’t you try it completely stripped back – no effects, just to plain old guitar. It’s got a more mellow quality to it and it might sounds better with the bass notes you’re hitting.”

 

When Harry tries it and it sounds amazing, Liam is a little bit surprised and Harry grins at him so wide his face is surely hurting, but his eyes are sparkling and he’s looking at Liam like he hung the fucking moon. “You’re brilliant Li!” he says happily. “Don’t know what I’d do without you.” And then he goes and ruins it by saying, “Probably be less sexually frustrated all the time.”

 

Liam tries to stay grumpy for the next few hours, but he can’t really manage it when Harry keeps meeting his eyes through the glass of the studio and crooning those delicious low notes in his direction.

 

When Louis gets there at three in the afternoon, they’re almost ready to call it a day and they’ve got at least half of the songs recorded that are ready. Louis is a good distraction because he keeps trying to throw staples in Liam’s cup of tea and he’s reminded that his best friend is absolutely woeful at trying to sit still.

 

“Would you cut it out?” he scolds and Louis at least has the decency to look a little ashamed.

 

“I’ll cut it out when you stop making moon eyes at lover boy,” Louis snaps back.

 

And Liam can’t really respond to that, can he?

 

\---

 

Liam is so tired on Wednesday that stubbing his toe on his way into the radio station is enough to put a scowl on his face as he trips through the door. He runs into his manager as soon as he steps into the main foyer and he asks Liam if he wouldn’t mind covering one of the shifts on the weekend and Liam _hates_ doing the weekend shifts because they’re boring and he has to play top 40s crap.

 

Louis calls him as soon as he steps away from his manager and into the store room. “What Lou?” Liam says quickly and Louis laughs.

 

“Someone’s got their knickers in a twist,” he says and Liam rolls his eyes. “I could sort that out for you…with my teeth.”

 

“I’m not in the mood Louis,” he groans. He can feel his toe throbbing in his sneaker and there’s no way he can concentrate on trying to understand Louis’ speedy talking on the phone at the same time as looking for the CD he wants for his show in half an hour.

 

“Alright tetchy,” Louis says and Liam can hear the smile in his voice and it makes him want to strangle him. “I was just calling to see if you can pick up some tomatoes on the way home from the station today.”

 

“We’ve got tomatoes,” Liam says with a sigh.

 

“I need more,” Louis says. “I’m cooking for Grimmy tonight and I don’t have time to get them myself because I need to go home and make myself look like a supermodel and that takes _time_ Liam. We’re not all young and fresh looking.”

 

“You’re a year older than me,” Liam snaps. “And isn’t Nick like seven years older than you?”

 

“Not the point Liam,” Louis says and Liam hears him drop something in the background and hiss a swear word down the phone. “Look, just get the tomatoes and maybe bugger off out of the apartment for a few hours so we can have sex and not worry about you being scarred for life.”

 

“Where the hell am I meant to go?” Liam says, but Louis clicks off the phone to avoid answering and Liam wants to throw it against the wall. “Fucking prick,” he mutters and shoves it back into his pocket before turning his attention towards the shelves where he knows the CD is meant to be.

 

And of course it’s not where it’s meant to be. Liam hasn’t been in the store room for months because he usually brings in his own records to play, but since the last time he was in here, everything’s been moved around and he doesn’t really care if it’s more organised than it used to be, he liked it how it was before and there’s really only one person who can be responsible for moving everything around and it’s Harry. The rational part of Liam’s brain is telling him that it’s for the better, that arranging all the CDs into their genres is actually a great idea and it’ll help in the long run, but the irrational part of Liam’s brain is kicking up a fuss because he just wants to find the damn CD and be out of the stupid store room that is so dusty it makes his brain hurt.

 

So yeah, all in all, Liam is in a crappy mood when he emerges from the storeroom, CD in hand, and he doesn’t feel like dealing with anyone. But Harry is in the staff lounge, flicking through a stack of CDs aimlessly and he looks up and smiles when Liam walks through the door.

 

“Want coffee?” he asks and Liam thinks it would probably improve his mood a whole lot, but he’s feeling disagreeable so he just leans against the counter and shakes his head.

 

“Not today,” he says. “I’ve got a headache and it’ll be ten times worse in an hour if I have coffee now.”

 

Harry grins cheekily and chucks the CDs onto the couch next to him. “Come on Li, I got you strawberry and lime syrup in it!” Liam wrinkles his nose and Harry laughs. “A cup of coffee might make that gorgeous smile appear,” he teases and Liam sighs because seriously, 

 

Harry’s finished recording and he doesn’t really need to be flirting anymore.

 

“You know you don’t have to do that anymore,” Liam says and Harry frowns. Liam has to give it to him, he’s pretty good at looking like he has no idea what Liam’s talking about, but it’s kind of annoying that he’s playing dumb.

 

“Do what anymore?” he asks and Liam’s getting a bit mad now, that Harry can’t just grow up and act like an adult and admit that he was being a little shit and they can all just laugh about it later.

 

“Don’t be an idiot,” Liam says. “I’m kind of over it to be honest.”

 

The crinkle between Harry’s eyebrows deepens a little. “What are you even talking about Liam?” Harry asks. “Don’t tell me you’re having a hard time with me flirting you a bit. I mean – you must get it all the time, you’re bloody gorge – ”

 

“For fuck’s _sake_!” Liam yells, and he’s angry now because he’s trying to be serious and Harry is just playing him for the hundredth time. “Stop fucking doing that Harry, it’s over – you got the fucking record deal. Congratulations. You won – you don’t need to flirt with the guy who got you the job to make sure everything goes smoothly.” He stops and runs a hand through his hair and Harry is kind of gaping at him like he doesn’t know what to say and _good_. He’s glad he’s stunned him for a second because he needs to say it and he needs Harry to get it. “You know, you can make it Harry. You’re actually fucking good at what you do and you don’t need to flirt with me all the time – you never needed to do that because we were always going to make your record. You’re going to be rich some day and move on to bigger and better things than this shitty station and you’re going to wonder why the fuck you cheapened yourself by thinking you needed to sleep your way to the top, so just _give it up_.”

 

Harry looks torn between crying and yelling and what comes out is sort of halfway in between because he sounds like he’s trying to raise his voice and failing so it just shakes pathetically when he says, “You really think that I was flirting with you to make sure you recorded my songs?” he asks and it feels like a punch in the gut.

 

“Oh, so that’s not why?” Liam asks with an incredulous laugh. “What because I was too low down in the pecking order to make a difference anyway? Like flirting with me just because it was fun to watch me think I had a chance is _so_ much better Harry.”

 

“Are you a fucking idiot?” Harry yells and his eyes flash. He looks mad and Liam doubts himself for the first time. “You’re my _friend_ Liam!”

 

“Well act like it!” Liam yells back and Harry throws his hands up in the air and stands up. He’s still halfway across the room but he looks proper angry now and he’s got a few inches on Liam that are obvious now that he’s not sitting down.

 

“Have you ever considered that maybe I was flirting with you because I like you and I _actually_ want to take you out properly? For fuck’s sake Liam you know me pretty well – tell me, do I seem like the kind of person who tries it on with people just to get something I want because if I do, I am _clearly_ doing something wrong here. I mean, what the hell made you think that was why I was doing it? What clued you in to that bloody mental delusion?”

 

And Liam’s trying to remember what gave him that idea but he’s coming up blank when Harry’s eyes are all wild and his cheeks are a little bit flushed and that’s really not what he should be thinking about when he feels a bit guilty and a bit like he’s probably just screwed literally everything up and why couldn’t he have just said yes to the stupid strawberry and lime flavoured coffee? “I – ”

 

“That’s what I thought!” Harry yells and he picks up his bag from the other end of the couch. “Fucking hell Liam, I knew you didn’t think of me like that, but I really thought you were my friend.” And okay, that feels like being slapped.

 

Harry storms out of the room and Liam tries to yell something after him to make him stop, but his voice cracks and he feels like a bloody idiot but he’s not even sure if Harry hears him because he doesn’t even flinch as he slams out of the building.

 

The door swings back open after him and Liam is left staring down the hallway after him and he can see Harry through the glass out on the street and he starts to walk one way before stopping and running his hands through his hair and turning back to go in the opposite direction. Liam would probably laugh if he didn’t want to cry. “Fuck,” he mutters and when he looks up his manager is standing across the hall in his office, looking at Liam with an eyebrow raised.

 

“I hope you know I hear all of that,” he says and Liam runs a shaky hand through his hair. He’s still desperately mad, but he thinks it’s mostly directed towards himself now and life would be a lot easier if he could go home and throw a lot of things around and make a whole bunch of mess, but that’s not how it works.

 

“Sorry,” he mumbles and his manager sighs.

 

“Get to the booth,” he says. “And just so you know – Mr Styles has never behaved inappropriately towards me.” He disappears back inside his office and closes his door so hard that Liam jumps.

 

He’s left feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.

 

\---

 

Louis knows Liam’s sad within twelve hours of his fight with Harry.

 

“Harry’s not replying to my texts and I’ve never heard you play so much sad music in such a short space of time,” he says, collapsing onto Liam’s bed at nine on Thursday morning. “What happened between the two of you?”

 

Liam groans and rolls over to face Louis, curling up in a ball and snuggling a bit closer to him. “Can I trade in the part where we talk about it for cuddles instead?”

 

When he looks up at Louis, his bottom lip is trapped between his teeth and he looks a little worried, but he reaches out to Liam and pulls him in so that he can snuggle into his chest properly and he pets his hair a bit. It feels nice. Louis is a good friend.

 

They’re quiet for a while, except for Louis humming something that sounds like Muse and Liam is impressed. It’s nice to be quiet with Louis every once in a while because he’s so fucking mental the rest of the time and Liam is just starting to nod off again when, “Did you try to have sex but you couldn’t get it up or something?” Louis asks and Liam groans, rolling away and trying not to smile.

 

“I can’t believe you just asked me that,” Liam mutters and he feels Louis grin against his shoulder, scrambling over on the bed to cuddle up to him again.

 

“Upset I’m doubting your sexual prowess Payne?” he asks with a laugh. “Was it Harry then? Was he really small or something?”

 

“Lou!” Liam yells, and he’s laughing when he rolls over to tickle Louis until he’s begging for mercy.

 

“So what actually happened?” Louis asks when Liam finally relents and they fall back onto the bed. Louis’ a great friend and he links his fingers with Liam’s where their hands are touching in the middle of the bed. He’s a bloody idiot ninety nine percent of the time, but he knows when it’s time to be serious and if there’s something he takes seriously, it’s Liam in a mood that sad rather than grumpy.

 

“Had a row with Harry,” Liam mumbles and Louis looks at him questioningly. “Yeah, it was basically all my fault.” He sighs and groans when Lou gives him an appraising look because he always feels awful when it’s Louis being disappointed. “Don’t look at me like that I already feel like a monster. Can’t you just let me sulk and listen to sad songs without looking at me like I’m the Grinch that stole Christmas?” he asks.

 

Louis is really good after that and sort of leaves Liam alone to mope. He brings him tea and makes sure he goes to work on time for the next two days until the weekend rolls around and by that stage he’s a bit sick of all the gloom and just leaves Liam alone to his devices – which basically consists of lying in bed all day and listening to Kings of Leon on loop.

 

Liam likes to think he is pretty good at finding a way that every song he listens to relates to his situation. It’s a bit hard when he comes to _Sex is on Fire_ and he starts getting angry that he’s probably blown every chance he’ll ever have of experiencing Harry’s fiery sex…or any sex with Harry at all. It works a lot better when he comes across sad songs like _Pyro_ that remind him of regret, which is exactly how he feels.

 

Louis picks the lock on the bathroom door when Liam has been in the shower for an hour singing the same song over and over again. “We _get it_ Liam!” he yells as he yanks open the shower curtain. “You will never be a cornerstone!” Liam shrieks and tries to cover his dick with a loofah and he can tell Louis isn’t actually that pissed because he’s trying not to laugh at Liam when he mutters, “What the fuck even is a cornerstone anyway?”

 

When Monday comes and Harry still hasn’t shown up at the studio since his fight with Liam, Liam almost has a breakdown and refuses to do his show. It takes Ed and one of the tech guys to drag him into the booth and sit him down. Ed stays for an hour after his shift is over to make sure Liam is okay to play one depressing song after the next. He plays Pyro at least three times and texts Lou.

 

_i thnk i made a big mistak bro_

 

Louis replies within a few seconds – of course because he never does anything at work.

 

_you ok li ?_

 

_nooooo! i actuly miss bublgum and cinnamon cofee. wats hapenin 2 meeeeee????_

 

Louis doesn’t reply for half an hour and when he does, it’s stupid.

 

_i can make you bubblegum and cinnamon coffee liam :=)_

 

He gets another text a few seconds later.

 

_that smiley face wasnt meant to have an equals sign in it but it kinda looks like voldemort dnt u think?_

 

Liam decides that Louis is no help at all.

 

\---

 

Zayn and Niall show up at the flat two nights later and Liam knows Louis’ called them because they wouldn’t be here otherwise (considering they’ve probably heard Harry’s side of the story and are understandably mad at Liam).

 

Liam squeaks a bit when he sees them and Louis pats him on the shoulder consolingly and he thinks that if he’s about to be drawn and quartered by Harry’s best mates, at least Louis is good at consoling people by patting them on the shoulder. “Hi,” he croaks out and Niall sighs.

 

“You know, I want to be mad at you but I think you actually look _more_ miserable than Harry and I didn’t think that was possible.”

 

Zayn studies him for a moment. “Yeah, your hair looks like its gone at least two more days without a wash than Harry’s does.”

 

“Mm, but Harry has those bags under his eyes and – ”

 

“Guys,” Louis says, cutting Niall off. “It’s all very well and good that you’re not killing my best mate, but we have issues to discuss, yeah?”

 

“Right, yeah,” Zayn says and sits himself down at the head of the kitchen table. Louis looks put out for a second because that’s _his_ spot, but he gets over it quickly enough and just steals Liam’s spot instead. Liam sits down opposite Louis and Louis kicks his foot under the table, which he thinks is meant to be comforting, but he accidentally kicks the toe that Liam stubbed the other day and he has to bite his lip so that he doesn’t yelp out in pain and make everything a whole lot more awkward than it already is.

 

“Look, there’s no point beating around the proverbial bush,” Louis says and Niall snorts.

 

“What does that even mean mate?” he asks and Louis scowls at him.

 

“It’s a _saying_ Niall. Sometimes it gets lumped in the same category as ‘if you don’t shut up I’m going to beat the shit out of you and fling you out into the gutter’.”

 

“Pretty sure that’s not a saying,” Liam says and Louis glares.

 

“Shut up Liam, you’re in trouble so you don’t get a say.”

 

Louis is pretty good at going from consoling to scathing in 0.2 seconds and he looks a little bad, going to kick Liam’s feet again to apologise and this time he hits Liam’s ankle instead of his sore toe and Liam smiles at him. Zayn sighs where he’s sitting at the head of the table and all eyes fall on him (except Niall’s because they’re eyeing the new packet of biscuits that Liam left on the bench).

 

“Look,” Zayn says. “I think it’s pretty obvious why Niall and I are here.” Liam raises and eyebrow as though to say _go on_ and Zayn nods at him. “Uh, you kinda broke Harry’s heart man.”

 

“He’s but a shell of the man he used to be,” Niall says dramatically and Louis laughs loudly. 

 

Niall frowns at him. “What? You’re allowed to use sayings and I’m not? Talk about a double fucking standard. I hate this intervention already.”

 

“This is an intervention?” Liam asks and Zayn shrugs.

 

“It was meant to be,” he says. “But you looked more morose than we expected and – ”

 

Louis interrupts him with a squawk. “What, so you didn’t believe me when I said Liam was all empty looking?” he asks indignantly and Zayn rolls his eyes.

 

“You have a habit of exaggerating Louis,” he says and Niall snickers. “Look,” Zayn continues, a bit exasperated. “Can we just address the issue at hand.” They all look at him.  
“The issue _being_ that Liam and Harry are clearly both miserable and your fight was stupid and everyone should just apologise and be happy or something?” he asks and Liam sighs.

 

“Did Harry even tell you what the fight was about?” Liam asks and Niall shakes his head.

 

“Not a peep,” he says. “Wouldn’t even answer our probing, nosy questions about it. Liam groans and feels awful because Harry hasn’t even ratted him out to his best friends and if he had, they’d probably be a lot more angry at him than they are and he really deserves that – deserves to be hated by everyone that has made his life a whole lot better since he met Harry. Because Harry does that, he makes Liam’s life a lot better and he feels like a total jerk for throwing that away and trying to pretend that it wasn’t true for so many months.

 

“Well then you don’t know that it’s completely my fault,” Liam says and Louis coos from across the table.

 

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Liam,” he says gently. “Takes two to argue after all.”

 

Liam shakes his head and rubs his face tiredly. “It wasn’t even a bloody argument,” he says. “It was just me being a prat and saying things I shouldn’t have and I’m really the only one who needs to apologise actually.”

 

They all look at him for a second and Zayn rests a hand on his shoulder. “So, why don’t you?” he asks and it’s so bloody obvious. It’s the easiest solution, really, but it’s also the hardest because Liam has always been proud and he doesn’t really fancy grovelling. But it’s also the only option. Because losing Harry isn’t an option at all really.

 

“Uh,” he says stupidly and Louis lets out a dramatic sigh.

 

“Liam Payne everybody! Our resident idiot!” Liam glares at him and Niall stands up from the table, walking around to pull Zayn’s t shirt until he stands up too.

 

“So you should probably do that,” Niall says and Zayn nods. “And we should probably go because we’re Harry’s friends first and foremost and even being here is a terrible, terrible breach of friendship when we’re meant to be taking his side in this argument that we know nothing about.”

 

“It’s a bit confusing,” Zayn says sympathetically when Louis crinkles his brow.

 

Liam thinks that ‘a bit’ is an understatement, but Niall and Zayn are out the door before he has a chance to say anything.

 

\---

 

Liam makes Louis walk him all the way to Harry’s flat and he even tries to pull him up the stairs with him but Louis flings him off with a flourish and says, “Bugger off Liam, I’m meant to be going around to Nick’s place and I can tell you now that riding dick is a lot more appealing to me than looking after your snivelling arse.”

 

Liam watches as Louis spins around and struts down the street. He looks like he’s trying to make a dramatic exit, but it’s kinda ruined when he does a double take as he passes a bakery and spends a few minutes gazing longingly at the cakes in the window before he shakes his head and continues on his way to find a bus that will take him to Grimmy’s place. Liam sighs and turns back around to face Harry’s building. He’s almost overwhelmed with the bright display of flowers in the florist under Harry’s flat and -

 

 _Couldn’t hurt_ , he thinks and pushes open the door.

 

When he finally builds up the courage to knock on Harry’s door, he’s got a bunch of geraniums clutched tightly in his hand and he feels like a bit of a prat. Especially when an old woman across the hall walks out of her apartment and fusses over the flowers for a minute before making her way downstairs. Liam sort of sputters and doesn’t really know what to say and he’s still watching her retreating back as she descends the stairs as slowly as her frail bones will allow when Harry’s door is wrenched open behind him.

 

“Running off?” he says and Liam spins around so fast it’d probably be comical if the situation weren’t so awkward.

 

“No!” he says quickly, gesturing down the stairs at the lady and then at the flowers and he can’t really speak and Harry raises an eyebrow at him. Liam blushes. “I swear, I’m not. And, uh, I’m a dick.”

 

And well, that’s one way to go about it. Harry looks like shit. His hair is flatter than Liam’s ever seen it, like he’s had it pulled under a beanie for a few days and he’s got circles under his eyes and he’s pale. Harry’s pale to begin with, but his skin looks all _barely there_ and he’s got a spot on the side of his chin and Liam feels awful because Harry’s got to be the most beautiful person he’s ever seen and he’s the one who made him look a little less beautiful.

 

Harry sighs and opens the door a little wider and Liam scampers into the apartment before Harry has a chance to change his mind. Harry’s apartment looks worse than Harry does - empty takeaway containers stacked up on the coffee table and a huge pile of dishes that haven’t even made it to the sink. A cover of _I Can’t Make You Love Me_ by Bon Iver is playing in the flat and Liam’s pretty sure he gave Harry that song, but Harry pushes past him to the iPod dock and shuts it off, so he figures it’s not appropriate to mention it.

 

“You want a coffee or something?” Harry asks and Liam shakes his head and figures he might as well just get to it.

 

“You might have noticed I’ve kind of been a wanker,” he says and Harry laughs.

 

“Kind of, yeah,” he says. Liam winces because it’s sugarcoating it. “I just don’t get it,” he says with a sigh. “I mean, did you actually think I was the kind of person to pull a dick move like that?”

 

Liam groans. “No! Fucking hell, I don’t know what I was thinking,” he says.

 

Harry raises an eyebrow at him and he still looks pretty mad or disappointed, which is a whole lot worse. He sighs. “Look, I don’t really know why you’re here.”

 

Liam is getting pretty desperate because he doesn’t want to screw this up and for the whole thing to be over before it was ever given a chance to really _begin_. That would be the worst kind of tragedy and there would be a lot of collateral damage, what with the way all of them are friends now - their lives are intertwined awkwardly and Liam doesn’t want to muck this up. “I swear I’m trying to say sorry.”

 

“You’re not really doing a very good job,” Harry says and Liam flounders for a second, trying to figure out where to start because he’s not that great at getting his point across at the best of times, but this is pressure and everything depends on it.

 

“I just - you sort of just walked right into my life and into my job and you brought me coffee and you didn’t even flinch when I told you I hated the dumb flavours you put in it even though I kind of liked it and you winked at me and played me sexual songs on the radio and your _voice_ Harry, have you ever heard it? You sound like a bloody sex god when you sing.” Harry blushes and his brow wrinkles in confusion. “And did you know you have dimples?”

 

“Yeah I’m aware,” he says flatly.

 

“It was just... _too good to be true_ ,” Liam finishes and throws his hands up in frustration because he can’t put it into words, the things that made him think Harry was just fucking him around and it seems a bit stupid now, looking back on it, because he’s never met someone so innately nice as Harry. “I’m an idiot.”

 

“I just don’t get why you’re immediate thought when I flirted with you was that I had an ulterior motive. I mean, is that some sort of weird _thing_ that you have? Do you not know how to deal with it when people like you?”

 

Liam laughs. “No, I’m just a twat,” he says. “I’m also really bad at apologising but I’m _so_ sorry that I made you feel like shit and in case you hadn’t figured it out, I’m a bit of a mess at the moment because I really like you.”

 

Harry looks torn between rolling his eyes and smiling and the end result is some dumb face that makes him look like he’s drunk. “You know, I knew I was going to be a goner for you as soon as you said you liked the Black Keys,” he says and Liam feels his stomach drop because maybe he still has a chance. “I’m a sucker for guys with great taste in music.”

 

“Christ Harry,” Liam says and he steps forward and catches Harry’s hand with his. “You should probably tell me now if you think you can ever forgive me because I might be a little bit in love with you,” and - 

 

And then Harry’s ducking his head to press his lips to Liam’s and he’s never felt so overwhelmed with _feeling_. He feels like he does when the chips you get at McDonalds have just come out the frier and they’re hot and crunchy and like when his favourite band releases a new CD and he finds out a month later when he accidentally leaves it playing that there’s a hidden track on the last song and like he’s just come home and Louis has done the dishes and the apartment’s clean (and okay, that one hasn’t actually happened but he can imagine it’d feel pretty good if it did).

 

Harry parts Liam’s lips with his tongue and licks into his mouth and Liam stops thinking and kisses back with all he can and he figures the warmth blooming across his chest like a flower is a good thing and all he can feel other than Harry’s fingers scratching through his short hair and everything feels so _good_ he can hardly breathe.

 

“Forgiven?” Liam asks, his lips still pressed to Harry’s and Harry pulls back a moment to smirk at him.

 

“Maybe.”

 

Liam smiles at him and tips his head up to press a kiss to the column of Harry’s throat. “I’m prepared to get down on my knees and grovel,” he says.

 

Harry laughs and kisses Liam again, his tongue licking along the back of his teeth. “Grovelling is great and all,” he says. “But I can think of much better things you can do on your knees.”

 

“That too,” Liam says with a grin and Harry groans as he pulls Liam down onto the couch.

 

\---

 

Liam wakes up curled around Harry with his phone buzzing on the bedside table next to his head. It’s eleven and he’s got a text from Louis and he doesn’t really want to move, but one text turns into two and then three until Liam forces himself to roll over and retrieve the phone.

 

Harry sort of snuffles around a bit and rolls in the opposite direction when Liam extracts his limbs and he smiles at the way Harry’s hair falls over his eyes when he sleeps.

 

_where are u im hungry_

_i take it the apology went well then_

_or it went really badly and ur dead_

 

Another text comes through just as Liam is tapping out a reply and he rolls his eyes.

 

_please dont say ur dead id have to avenge u and i dont think i could take harry in a fight_

 

Liam sighs.

 

_im not ded cn u plsssssss stop txting were trying to sleep and no we ddnt hav sexxxxx louis!!!!!_

 

He flops back onto the bed after Louis sends him a winky face in reply as well as an emoticon of a bowl of noodles and Liam figures his finger just slipped and rolls over to go back to bed only Harry is awake and watching him with a smile on his face and when he says “Hey,” his voice is all croaky and Liam suddenly isn’t all that tired anymore.

 

“Morning,” he says and his own voice sounds a bit croaky, even to his own ears. Harry shuffles forwards on the bed until he’s all up in Liam’s space and one of his curls kind of tickles Liam’s nose and he wrinkles it a bit to try and refrain from itching it and then Harry kisses him and his itchy nose is the least of his worries. He’s pretty sure he has morning breath actually and he’s too busy worrying about it to realise that Harry probably has it too, but he can’t taste it or anything like that so they’re probably just as bad as each other.

 

Harry shifts back a bit and smiles at Liam. “Still think I’m not actually into you?” he asks, his eyes glinting a bit and Liam rolls his eyes and kisses him again, parting his lips with his tongue and licking deep into his mouth.

 

“Am I ever going to live that down?” he asks and Harry shrugs a bit closer to him, his arm wrapping around Liam’s waist and swivelling the two of them so that Liam is half on top of Harry and the morning air is a little biting so that was probably Harry’s plan all along.

 

“Was thinking I might repay you for the awesome blowjob last night,” Harry mumbles against Liam’s lips and he feels his cock twitch, beginning to fatten up in his boxers. “Then you can fuck me in the shower,” he says, ignoring Liam’s groan and latching his lips onto his neck instead. He manages to distract Liam enough to flip him over and straddle his lap. It was never going to be that hard to do that to be honest - Liam is pretty much always distracted when it comes to Harry. “And then I’ll make you eggs for breakfast.” He flicks his tongue over Liam’s left nipple. “You like eggs right, Liam?”

 

“Yeah,” Liam mumbles and for all he knows he could be agreeing to be Nicholas Cage’s sex slave for the rest of his life because he can’t concentrate on anything other than the way Harry is licking into his belly button, which really shouldn’t turn him on as much as it does. He’s got a hand tangled in Harry’s hair and he doesn’t know when he put it there, but he tightens his fingers a bit and Harry groans, biting the waistband of Liam’s boxers and pulling them away before letting them go to _snap_ back against his skin. “Jesus, _fuck_ Harry,” Liam says and Harry grins up at him, all toothy and bright eyed like he’s having the time of his life.

 

He probably is.

 

“Alright there Payne?” he asks with a smile and Liam glares at him and twists his fingers where they’re still wrapped in his hair. “Oi!” Harry yelps and swats at his hands. “Should know better than to piss off the guy with his teeth so close to your dick.” He huffs a breath of hot air onto Liam’s hard on through his boxers to emphasise the point and it makes him squirm on the bed and wish with every fibre in his body that Harry would just get on with it.

 

Harry moves painfully slowly when he pulls off Liam’s boxers and makes a show of winking when he swings them over his head and chucks them across the room. Liam winces when they catch on a photo frame on the dresser and pull it to the ground with a clatter, but then Harry nips at the bend of Liam’s knee and licks a stripe up the inside of his thigh and he forgets about the stupid photo frame and focuses on the boy between his legs.

 

“Enjoying the view?” Harry asks with a smirk and Liam sighs. He’s never had someone so snarky try to suck his dick if you don’t count Louis, but that was a drunken thing that never eventuated in actual dick sucking and Liam is hoping this _will_.

 

“Yeah, Harry would you just - ” Liam cuts himself off, sucking in a breath when Harry slides his lips down Liam’s cock, wet with spit and a little bit of precome that makes them shine. His lips are a bloody sin and Liam should have known that it would feel amazing to have his dick inside Harry’s hot, wet mouth, but he hadn’t even given it a thought and he feels vastly out of his depth. Harry’s hair is tickling the tops of his thighs as his mouth slides up and down Liam’s shaft, tongue dragging, obscene sucking noises filling the room. 

 

It’s all he can do to hold off from coming right away, one hand falling from Harry’s hair and onto the bedsheets that he can twist as hard as he likes, using the other to push Harry down a little further onto his cock. Harry chokes and sputters a bit when Liam holds him down, but Liam can feel his throat opening to accommodate the intrusion and the amazing soft flutter of the back of Harry’s throat around the head of his dick. It’s almost too much and his hips buck up off the bed when Harry moans around him, hands immediately flying up to hold Liam down.

 

He starts moving faster, his lips sliding up and down Liam’s cock like they’re made for it. And then he looks up at Liam, pupils blown wide and a gorgeous flush high on his cheeks and Liam can’t hold it in any longer, coming down Harry’s throat with a cry that’s half swear word and half Harry’s name.

 

“Fucking hell,” he mutters as Harry pulls off, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and grinning up at Liam.

 

“Like that?” he asks with that stupid smirk and Liam can’t help but laugh because Harry is ridiculous. He slept naked and Liam can see his dick is hard and flushed like he’s desperate to get off, but he just cuddles up into Liam’s side and swats his hand away when he goes to jerk him off.

 

“What?” Liam asks and Harry shrugs.

 

“I can wait,” he says quietly, pressing a kiss to Liam’s collarbone before licking into the dip there. He pulls back and waggles his eyebrows. “ _Salty_.”

 

“Well excuse me for not being completely in control of my sweat glands when I’m having my sanity sucked out through my dick,” Liam says with a frown. 

 

Harry laughs. “You smell gross too.” His long fingers are tracing over Liam’s hip bones and he can feel himself starting to get hard again. That’s a stupidly quick recovery time, but Harry knows just where to touch so that it’s not overwhelming and Liam feels like he’d be ready to go again in a few minutes.

 

“Yeah, well,” Liam takes a deep breath and tries (fails) not to blush. “You mentioned something about a shower?”

 

\---

 

It’s about halfway through Liam’s show when his boss knocks on the door in the middle of a song and gives him the go ahead. He’s been sitting on this record for about a week and he’s desperate to play it. It’s not very often that their station gets the privilege of being the first place in the _world_ to play a record and it’s even less often that it get’s played on Liam’s show.

 

He texts Harry straight away to make sure he’s listening to the radio because this kind of thing is important really. And when the song that’s playing ends, Liam forgets to announce it’s title in all of his excitement.

 

“Okay everyone, up next we have a new song for you guys. This is the first time this song is being played on radio _ever_ so tune in because it’s pretty awesome and you’d be mental not to like it.”

 

His phone buzzes and he takes a breath to look down and see that Harry has answered his text with a bunch of emojis including a monkey covering it’s eyes and a fried sweet potato. He can’t help but grin at his phone and he’s pretty sure the whole of London can hear the smile in his voice when he says, “This is _Kids_ written and sung by the station’s very own Harry Styles.”

 

Liam can’t wipe the huge grin off his face when the first few notes of Harry’s song trickle out of the speakers - doesn’t even want to try and contain how proud he is of his boyfriend. It’s not the most upbeat song on the album, but it’s soothing and Liam feels like he could listen to it for days. He probably _would_ listen to it for days if he didn’t have Louis yelling at him to shut the record off and to just go and get Harry to sing it at him himself. He’s pretty sure Nick is spurring him on just to trick Louis into getting Liam to leave the flat so that the two of them can shag, but he’s not going to point the finger of blame.

 

He gets a text from Louis and Niall as soon as the song starts up and both of them are just a heap of exclamation points and if he weren’t so busy being happy for Harry, he’d be shocked that Louis has let Zayn put on his show down at the shop. It’s no secret that Louis prefers the top 40 in the coffee shop, but today is a big day.

 

Harry finally messages him halfway through the song and Liam is expecting some stupid message that’s got nothing to do with the song.

 

_I know you’re not meant to say this over text but I fucking love you .xx_

 

He and Harry say it sometimes, but never in huge declarations like this and Liam cal feel his heart swell in his chest, can picture the stupid smile that’s probably plastered across his face. He really can’t bring himself to care. The text that follows a few minutes later is a lot less of a surprise.

 

_Can you bring me some coffee after work? x_


End file.
